4 secrets to selling your online course on YouTube (from an 8-figure course creator)

If you're sitting there going,

"Okay, well, I have a YouTube channel, but I have no freaking clue how to actually use it for my business."

or it's just not working, this should do the trick for you. Not only have I been able to... It's crazy to say, but this channel has now generated well over eight figures just in online course sales since I started it. Wild. But I also have created a methodology that has helped thousands of other people monetize their skills, their services, their consulting, their coaching, and their online courses, anywhere from $10,000 a month all the way up to people making 2 to $3 million a year. And you can see some of those examples right now.

Geoffrey, who started with no audience and no business, went from zero to $1 million in core sales using his YouTube channel and no paid advertising in 18 months. Liz Sharma went from 100 subscribers on her channel to 18,000 and a six-figure business teaching European Portuguese. Chelsea became a six-figure oil painter thanks to her channel. Brandon, whose channel generated $3 million last year with under 30,000 subscribers. And Ally took her yoga practice online and 4Xed her business with the combination of YouTube and her online course.

And if you're curious about that, you can go to workwithsunny.com. We'll put the link in the description. But without further ado, let's get into these four secrets, okay? Because they are going to be a game changer for you. Click like if you're excited. Be sure to subscribe and let's dive in. So, what are we going to go over today? And what are the four secrets for how to sell your services, your online course, your consulting, your coaching on YouTube? These are them. So, the number one mistake that entrepreneurs make on YouTube that costs them time, energy, and a lot of money. Number two, the traffic source strategy to make YouTube actually work for you and in your favor. Number three is the metrics that actually matter, not the ones you think matter to your business. And then number four is optimizing for sales. So, actually structuring your video content so you can convert viewers into paying clients. Let's do it.

So, the number one mistake that entrepreneurs make on YouTube is they think about YouTube from the lens of being a creator versus being an entrepreneur. Now, why is this such a major difference that is so important to understand? Because creators, your main focus and your intention... When I say creator, it's not that you can't be both. It's just that if you're solely a creator and you are trying to monetize yourself specifically, through brand deals or through getting paid via AdSense, it means that your end goal has to be building a big, huge audience and a targeted audience that these brands or that YouTube actually wants to help you monetize and wants to pay you for. The difference for an entrepreneur is that your main focus is accuracy.

So, you do not need a big audience in order to have a very successful channel as an entrepreneur, in terms of speaking to the right people, having a very clear intention behind your content, and actually converting those people and those viewers into clients that you can have a super deep impact on through your services if you're a consultant, a coach, a course creator, et cetera. So, it's audience, growing a big, huge audience and focusing on the subscribers, the views, all that stuff, versus accuracy. So, if accuracy is your goal, your metrics that are important to you are very different. So, I'm going to talk about the metrics that actually matter as an entrepreneur, which are vastly different than a creator, in just a second. But what I really want to hone in on here is that you don't need a big audience, you certainly don't need a lot of subscribers and you don't even need a ton of viewers to monetize a YouTube channel as an entrepreneur. You don't even need to hit the 4,000 hours watch time and 1,000 subscribers.

We've had plenty of clients start bringing in thousands of dollars in revenue far before they get to that point, because they have something to sell from their channel in terms of an online course, services, et cetera. Make sense? So, targeted viewers are your main goal as an entrepreneur. And so what happens is, and the mistake that creates a lot of unnecessary tension on your channel and a lot of creating YouTube videos without seeing any return or any clients or any leads coming in the door, is directly related to what I call the content scaling funnel. So, you have viral, you have depth and you have evergreen. So, the differences between these layers is that if you are going the viral route and you're trying to reach a really broad audience and a big audience, you're going to do topics that are more beginner-focused, kind of surface level topics. And that means that people who watch these kinds of videos then have to go through three layers and a lot of education in order to become an actual lead or client for your business.

So, these topics are not speaking directly to who your ideal client is. They're speaking to who your ideal client is a year, two years prior to them being ready to actually work with you. So, this grows your audience but it doesn't necessarily bring in leads. Now, depth content is more focused on somebody who is a little closer and a little more ready and at a place in their journey where they're ready to make the decision to actually hire somebody or work with somebody, and that could be you. But this person is still not quite there. So, depth content is really about building loyalty with your audience and subscribers so that they keep coming back and watching your content so that they can be nurtured into becoming a hot lead. Now, the bottom of your funnel, this is going to get the least amount of use initially, but these videos are going to work for you over time.

They're going to bring in what we call evergreen traffic, because anyone in the world who is searching for a topic that is evergreen is going to find you if you make that content. We're going to talk about this more in-depth in a second, and how to really leverage these. But what you need to understand is sometimes the videos that get the least amount of views have the hottest leads in the most targeted audience, and you'll understand why that's vitally important and why it actually works in your favor to have less views but more targeted views when we get into traffic sources. So, evergreen content brings in the least amount of views initially, but it will continue to bring in views over time and continue to rack up views and leads every single day, because it's content that is easily discoverable by people all over the world searching for the solution to the problem that you solve, or the answer to the question that you are providing through your business.

And so it's like a magnet for the right people to come into you. So, don't expect this big surge of growth from it, but expect really hot leads. So, clients of ours who focus strictly on this kind of content, they're generating, like I said, anywhere from $10,000 a month to all the way up to $300,000 a month with a very small audience just by focusing on this kind of content. And something that I've talked about a lot recently for you to figure out what kind of content this actually is, is you want to think about who are you serving? And so you have to think about it from the lens of, who is your ideal client? And if you've watched a few of my recent videos, you understand that in terms of building a really successful business of any kind, there are really core, fundamental factors that have to apply.

So, you have your offer, first and foremost. You have to know what you're providing in terms of your course or your service. And then from there, you have to know who your ideal client actually is and how to speak to them, how to reach them, et cetera. From there you clarify your messaging so that platforms like YouTube can actually convert for you and you're not just wasting time making random content on the internet that doesn't turn into anything for you, which can be really frustrating. And then from there, you how to bring in leads, which then turns into sales. And once you have those five fundamentals sorted, then you start to build up a team and operations in your business and you're set up to scale to the moon. So, when it comes to creating evergreen content, it's hard to create this and actually attract the right viewers that turn into paying clients if you don't know who they are.

So, the three factors of your ideal client is one specific ideal client. This is the important part. One specific place on their journey where they're most ready to invest. And then finally, seeking one specific transformation. When you have these three factors dialed, which is what we really focus on when we work with our clients and creating their online course and then scaling it using YouTube, you then know exactly what kind of content to make. So, it's things like FAQs from these kinds of clients. It's hot topics that are really, really relevant to these kinds of clients. And like I said, these are not going to be these hugely viral videos, but they're going to be super, super relevant to the right people who are going to be at the stage on their journey where they're going,

"Oh my gosh, I have found the person that I need to work with and pay and hire because they really know what they're talking about."

So, the more you can create content that speaks to these people and adds value to these people. You are not directly selling from YouTube ever. You are providing value so that you can be discovered through these videos, through search on YouTube every single day from people around the world. That's why it's such a magical platform, because you don't even have to be working and people are finding you every single day. And that's how my channel was able to grow the way that it did and why it's been able to generate so much revenue for my business. Now, let's talk about my traffic source strategy to turn viewers into clients even if you have a teeny tiny audience and not a lot of viewers. Remember that one viewer is one potential client for your business if this is done the right way. So, there are three key traffic sources on YouTube.

You have search, you have suggested, and you have browse. As a creator who doesn't have services or a business to sell from the back end of their channel, you're focused really on suggested and you're focused on browse. Because you want to build your audience. You want to get as many eyeballs on your channel as possible. Because like I said, that's how you monetize. You monetize through an audience. Whereas for an entrepreneur who's leveraging YouTube, you have to be very, very, very strategic and intentional about this. Because reaching the wrong people... And sometimes even going viral can actually work against you, your business and your channel. So, the two key factors that you have to dial in prior to really being able to grow your channel in the right way on YouTube and reach the right people are, who are you trying to reach, which we just went over in terms of who is your ideal client, and what do you want to be known for?

And every piece of content you create on YouTube needs to align with these two key factors. If it doesn't, you run the risk of creating content that then reaches people who are not a match for your ideal client. And that can actually mess with the algorithm and mess with your channel. Because what the algorithm does when content succeeds is they go,

"Hmm, that's really interesting. Okay. This video reached all these kinds of different people and it did really well for the channel. So, this channel must be about that thing."

even if it's not. And so any other piece of content that you make that's maybe for specifically your ideal client, as I was talking about earlier, it's not going to be pushed by the internal traffic sources because that's not what you've told YouTube your channel is about. And I'm sure you might be able to relate to this because it's happened to a lot of people, myself included. Because my channel is a testing ground.

I've been a guinea pig on YouTube for so long and I've tried so many things and have made so many mistakes, but it's why I'm able to support people in doing this the right way in the most intentional way now, because I've done all of the things. I have so many videos that I created that I look back and go, "Who was that for?" And it messed with things on my channel big time. So, being intentional saves you so much time and so much headache. So, the three traffic sources in how you actually leverage these, it has to, as an entrepreneur, remember this, it has to start with search. Because you want to think about YouTube as pretty much free advertising. The more you focus on search traffic, so you're making content that is evergreen and discoverable through search, the more you're discovered by your ideal clients every single day.

And that is feeding the algorithm with the right information of who you want to reach and what you want to be known for. And then what starts to happen is the more intentional you are with your content... Even if you have a channel already and you've kind of messed things up, it's okay. This strategy still works. You just got to retrain the algorithm. So, you start with search. And then from there it goes into suggested and browse. So, the more that you feed the algorithm with the right information and get really targeted about the keywords that you're using and the topics that you're using in terms of who you want to reach in the beginning and what you want to be known for, the more that it's going to know how to leverage suggested and browse traffic sources to reach more of those people. Having said that, in the beginning your main focus is retaining your original viewers.

So, the people who first start to subscribe to your channel, making sure that they are the right ideal viewers is going to help you a ton because, if you're making specific intentional content for these people, it means they're then going to come back and watch more of your content. Because you're all of a sudden the go-to expert that they want to listen to. It doesn't matter how big your audience is. The more valuable your content is, the more they're going to want to come back. And the more specific it is, the more they know what you're all about and what to expect on your channel. So, they'll come back. So, the goal is, you start with search. Focus on keyword-heavy evergreen content. Start to become known for these two things inside the algorithm. Then the algorithm starts to support you and pushes your channel through suggested and browse traffic, which shows up on the homepage and in the side panel, to your original viewers.

These people then become super, super loyal. And then what happens is you build this little army of your first subscribers who are bought into your channel and bought into you as the authority. And then from there, YouTube and the algorithm then goes,

"Oh, I know exactly what this channel's about, who it's trying to reach and what it wants to be known for, so now we're going to push it to even more people, just like this key group right here, through suggested and browse."

So, at first you're getting pushed by suggested and browse to your original subscribers and viewers. Next, the more you are known for these two factors, YouTube then starts to work in your favor and starts to work for you and uses its internal traffic sources to push your content to more of those people using these traffic sources, but not necessarily pushing you to just your subscribers and viewers.

It's also now pushing you to all of the people on YouTube who match this original audience. That's when YouTube really starts to take off and we call this the hockey stick growth strategy. And I'm not necessarily talking about growth in numbers. I'm talking about growth in accuracy, remember? So, it builds this really accurate audience. Because if you just grow a really broad audience and you go super wide and you have no idea what you're really posting about on YouTube, it screws with everything. Because then YouTube goes,

"What is this channel trying to be known for? And I don't really know where to position it or help it reach the right people. So, we're just not really going to help it."

And it creates more time and effort on your side to try and reach more people, which creates a lot of extra stress and work for you.

So, this is kind of the lazy route. We want you to be able to feed the algorithm with the right information so you can sit back. You don't have to create more than one video a week. You can even create less than that, but every piece of content's intentional and feeding it with the right information so it can help you grow. Got it? And to really drive this point home, how I describe it is it's really a flywheel. When you think about how YouTube works, particularly being an entrepreneur on the platform, this is how I've broken it down. So, I call this cracking the code on YouTube. So, first and foremost, you got to know who your ideal viewer is. And oftentimes that's your ideal client. So, ideal viewer. Then you make relevant content for that viewer. So, it can trigger suggested and browse.

And then from there the algorithm, I'm just going to say, algorithm cat, the algorithm then knows how to categorize you. And then it uses its internal traffic sources, search, suggested, browse, to reach more of your ideal viewer with less effort. Because then it's actually helping your channel grow as opposed to you having to put in all the effort in pushing out content. And that's where the real magic happens. And that's why we call it an evergreen sales machine when it's done the right way. And you don't need a big, huge audience. So, now let's talk about a controversial topic. Because I totally understand and I've fallen into this trap myself. When you're on YouTube you're like,

"Why am I not getting more views? Why does nobody care about my content?"

As an entrepreneur, you got to put that to the side. Your ego, not your amigo, my friend. If you are a creator and you rely on views and an audience size and all that stuff, different ballgame. Totally understand it.

I've had to come to terms with the fact that, because I'm an entrepreneur, that's not my game. And so I actually have reached a place where the views really don't matter. The quality of the views matter. So, the metrics that actually matter as an entrepreneur, I'm going to break them down, but the biggest thing I wanted to hone in on as well is because there's something new on YouTube, new-ish, it's been around for quite a while now, but it can really mess with your head as an entrepreneur or as a creator on YouTube. There's always a ranking for every video you post, right? And sometimes it's going to say a 10 out of 10. 10 out of 10 actually means it's done horribly. It doesn't in actuality, though. It's done horribly based on the vanity metrics on YouTube. It hasn't done horribly in terms of reaching the right people. Sometimes my videos that have gotten the worst ranking have actually brought in the best clients that I could imagine because they're super-hyper-targeted and the video's not meant to reach a huge audience.

It's meant to reach the right audience and convert those viewers into people who actually want to work with us in our business. So, I just wanted to clarify this ranking because don't let a mess with your head. Okay. Next up, the metrics that actually matter. So, let's break these down. So, number one is CTR. And they kind of have to go in this sequential order, because if they don't then you really don't know how to troubleshoot and fix things. But CTR is important because it's your click-through rate. So, if people aren't clicking on the video, then they're not watching it. Now, here's where this can get a little bit confusing and can also mess with your head. All of these can, FYI, but you need to know and understand how to read them as an entrepreneur. So, for your CTR, the most important thing is to understand that your CTR percentage is based on, out of all of the people that are seeing your thumbnail and seeing your video through the traffic sources, how many people are actually clicking. Anything above 2% is considered decent.

It can go 2 all the way up to 10+%. So, anything above 10 is freaking phenomenal. But you also have to understand this is kind of deceiving. Because there's actually a click-through rate for each different traffic source. If this video that you've created is very bottom of the funnel and evergreen content, your entire subscriber base might not be interested. Therefore, it might damage the CTR slightly, but it's not telling you the whole picture. Because even if it's got a low click-through rate, if your retention on the video is good, it means that it actually hit home and landed with your ideal viewer. So, that's still a metric for success. So, CTR's a little deceiving, but CTR's the first metric you want to look at.

The next one is retention. And I would say this, for me, hands down the most important and the thing I look at the most. Retention means how much of the video are people watching. And anything about 40% is actually pretty darn good. I know it doesn't sound great, but it's actually pretty good in YouTube standards. And the reason that this means so much, and another way that you can qualify it is, instead of looking at the views or subscribers that the video brings in, it actually tells you how much do your people care? How much are they actually watching every video? If they're not watching your video but you have millions of subscribers and views, it doesn't matter. Because your content's not actually doing anything or making an impact. So, retention is everything, in my opinion, and focusing on this as opposed to anything else is going to help you sleep better at night and come to terms with the fact that you don't need to have a big, huge audience in order to really impact people through your channel.

And another piece of this is, what are the quality of your comments on your channel? This is a big one for me. I want to see comments that go deep from people who watch my channel. That tells me I'm doing a good job and I'm attracting the right people who actually care. It doesn't matter about the volume. It matters about the depth and the quality. And that's directly related to retention because if they're watching the whole thing they're going to be commenting throughout, and that's a huge sign of success. So, from there, watch time. How much watch time? Is it accumulating on your channel? Because obviously watch time is important. And are people staying on your channel? Are they continuing to watch other videos? Have you set up playlists so that people can go from one video to the next? Watch time is important. It's not the be-all end-all, but it is a big metric on YouTube.

You want people to have a binge watch effect on your channel. And then the next thing from there is obviously views. But again, this is very deceiving. Because like I said, in the content scaling funnel, some of your highest converting videos are going to be the ones that have the least amount of views but the most targeted views. So, take this number with a grain of salt and qualify it truly based on retention more than you base your success on views. I genuinely, at this point in my career, don't look at the views or care how many views I get. I care about the depth and the quality and how long people are watching the video. Because I know my content's not meant for the masses. It's meant for my ideal viewers. And then from there, subs. So, how many subscribers did this particular video bring in?

And if it's bringing in a ton of your ideal subscribers, you want to focus on doubling down on that content because it's actually going to bring in more of those people. And if people subscribe because of this video topic, if you make more video topics just like that, you're actually going to appease and get higher views from your existing subscriber base, which is going to push it more in suggested and browse to more people just like that. And then the final piece is velocity. So, you might have seen this before. And again, this kind of goes hand in hand with this ranking up here. So, you want to take it with a grain of salt and really audit what the intention of the video was. Because if the intention of the video was to go viral, which to be fair, you don't have a ton of control over it.

There are strategies to go viral. It's something that I talk about, but you don't have a ton of control when a video goes viral and that can get risky for all of the reasons that I've mentioned. But essentially, velocity is the graph that you see and the analytics on YouTube where, let's say this is your average velocity of your video. It means that the video started here and it went all the way up like this. So, that means you had really high velocity. So, it means when you published the video, your audience was super excited to watch it and it went way up. But again, when you create evergreen bottom of the funnel content that's for your exact ideal client, your velocity is not going to be great. So, it's also a bit of a deceiving metric. These are the metrics I watch, but the one I really care about is retention and quality of comments.

And I can tell you, the minute that you focus on that instead of everything else and thinking your videos suck because you're not getting a lot of views or subscribers, the more peaceful and happy and impactful you can be as an entrepreneur. Because you're not caught up in the Monopoly money of vanity metrics and you actually care about the real human beings that you're able to serve through your content on YouTube, and turn into people who really believe in you and believe in what you're doing and want to work with you and be a part of your community for life. That's what actually matters. The numbers are deceiving. The fourth secret is video structure. And again, this is different. This is different for creators versus entrepreneurs. And like I said, yes, you can be both, but the intention has to be very, very clear if you're an entrepreneur and it has to be about accuracy and getting the right people to watch.

And you also have to recognize the cold hard truth, that if you're an entrepreneur on YouTube, it's really not about you. Whereas if you are a brand and a creator and an influencer, people are bought into you. As an entrepreneur, people are bought into the value you provide solving their problem, answering their question and making a transformation in their lives or their businesses or whatever it is that you offer. It's a big difference. And so how you structure your videos is really important. Because when I talk about selling your services, your online course, your consulting, your coaching on your YouTube channel, like I said earlier, I'm not talking about creating a video that says, "Want to buy my stuff?" Because you got to treat it like you would treat meeting someone in real life. You don't just immediately go in for a pitch. You got to know the person. You got to understand the person.

You got to know if they're the right fit for you. You got to know if you can help them. You got to know who you're speaking to and what you want to be known for so you track the right audience, and then you got to structure a video in a way where it actually sets you up for success. So, we call it the H.O.T. script formula. I've been using this and coined this a long time ago, and so many people have now used this and I love it. It's part of my methodology. And really what it means is hook, outcome, testimonial. And why this is important as an authority figure, as an entrepreneur, is that it positions you as someone who people want to listen to, trust, and actually want to tune in for the whole video. And what did I say was the most important metric? Retention. So, this script is set up for retention.

So, if you look at it on a graph, how it looks is, this is the intro of the video, 30 seconds to one minute. This is the meat of video and the value of the video. This is the outro. Why is it this way? Because as an entrepreneur, you're a problem solver. So, people are clicking on your video for the most part because they're discovering it and going, "Oh my gosh, this is exactly what I need." So, sitting there for two minutes at the beginning explaining why someone should watch your video screws with your retention. Because people are not there for you. They are there for the impact that you're providing and the answer or solution you're providing. So, you got to get to it. So, in the beginning you use this. Hook, outcome, testimonial. So, it starts with the hook. The hook is very simple.

You just want to reassure people in the room they're in the right spot. Because how many times do you click on a YouTube video and you're like, "This is not what the title says it is, and this is annoying." So, you just want to say something like, "Yeah, this video is going to teach you the four secrets to selling your online course on YouTube." Reassuring. It's hooking them. It's bringing them in. The outcome. "By the end of this video, you're going to know how to confidently sell your services, your coaching, your online course, using your YouTube channel." Testimonial. "I've helped thousands of people sell their online courses and scale all the way up to millions of dollars a year consistently using this strategy." And then you can show a few of them. You might have noticed I actually did that at the beginning. And it reassures people that they can listen to you and they can trust you, and they want to invest and spend their time with you for the rest of the video.

So, you get through that in 30 seconds to one minute. Then in the meat of the video you're providing value and you're solving the problem, answering the question, giving them what they came for and why they clicked on this video. They don't even know you half the time if they're clicking on this video. If it's evergreen content, they just learned about you. They're just discovering you. So, you need to give them a reason to stay and provide serious amounts of value to them. And then the end of the video, you want to include a call to action. If you don't tell people where to go or what to do, you will never actually get results. You can send people directly to your conversion site, whatever that may be. If you have a Buy Now button, if you want people to apply to book a call, whatever it may be, you want to send people to that conversion site so these people don't just find you on YouTube, think your information's great, and then forget about you because they're getting served 50,000 messages a day from other people online.

So, you have to capture the viewers that watch you on YouTube, and the easiest way to do that is to send them to an email list. And then on that email list, you're able to then provide even further value, stay in touch with them, and nurture them into really trusting you and having the timing right for them to actually invest in working with you. And it builds this huge, amazing, loyal audience of people who are really excited about you and the value that you provide. So, this is how you structure your video to actually convert into leads and into sales.

If you found this helpful, comments really are my love language. So, I would love to hear what landed for you, what helped you, what light bulb moments you had, and if you really do understand now that not all YouTube creators are made equally, and if you have business and you are an entrepreneur, it's a bit of a different ball game. Take it from someone who's kind of done it all and learned all of the things in the long time that I've been on this platform. So, like I said, if you had a light bulb moment, let me know in the comments below. It really does make me feel happy and joyful. And I'm so grateful that you tuned in. And like I said, this is what I do for a living. It is what I live for. And I help people go from being this invisible expert to being able to scale their authority, their income and their impact using online courses and YouTube.

So, if you want to learn more about that, just type workwithsunny.com, all lowercase, into your browser, and you can check out my free training and actually speak to somebody on my team about working with us. And we'll also put the link in the description below. Thank you so much for watching. I have a whole playlist set up for you, duh, watch time, right here on how to create, market and sell your online courses. So, be sure to check out that next. And let it be easy, friend. YouTube is such an easy way to market your online course if it's done the right way and if you do all the proper steps leading up to it. So, I hope that you took that from this, that you don't have to work yourself into the ground in order to have a really sustainable, scalable, successful business. Are you with me?

If this was helpful and you want to dive deeper on this, I encourage you to apply to our application-only program, The Authority Accelerator (where we help experts, coaches and consultants go from unknown and stuck to the go-to authority by packaging your expertise into a highly scalable online program so that you can elevate your income, impact and audience on autopilot) today: https://sunnylenarduzzi.com/apply