In the beauty industry, being face-to-face with clients is a daily requirement. No matter what you’re doing, whether it's giving a haircut, eyebrow wax, or facial, you have to be inches away from your customer to do your job properly.
However, during this global pandemic, social distancing is still the law of the land. It’s a difficult reality that threatens the collapse of appointment-based work, but at the same time, it provides an interesting opportunity to grow and adapt.
If you're looking for ways to diversify your income, now’s the time to create a value-driven YouTube channel. Making videos around your beauty expertise is a great way to make money, and you can earn in multiple ways: AdSense revenue, affiliate marketing, live stream Super Chats, and more.
But before you press record on your camera, it’s helpful to learn the basics of running a successful YouTube channel. Here on the vidIQ blog, and on the vidIQ YouTube channel, we have a number of tutorials that are extremely useful for beginners.
Once you’ve done that, the next step is to learn from the best! Keep reading to see how top-notch beauty gurus make money on YouTube.
Lana Summer, currently at 371K YouTube subscribers, uploads videos about the full beauty experience, from hair to makeup to skin care to fashion. But if you didn’t know that, her channel banner instantly communicates that fact. Nestled between delicate pink flowers, and right below Lana’s name, six powerful words tell you everything you need to know: “lessons in curls, beauty, and happiness.”
Of all the ways Lana is making money on YouTube, we’ll focus on her hairdressing skills. On her channel, viewers can browse hair tutorials of all kinds: mini-twists, wigs, braids, hair straightening, and more.
When salons shuttered during the pandemic, Lana uploaded a haircut tutorial that was extremely useful and relevant. Even though many creators were making these kinds of videos, (and keyword competition was high), she still managed to get over 23,000 views on her haircut tutorial (below):
Talking of hair cutting tutorials, what kind of terms have viewers been searching for on YouTube around DIY haircuts? We ran the phrase ‘how to cut your own hair’ through vidIQ’s own Keyword Search tool and these are the top 15 keyphrases for the past 30 days:
Around 538K viewers searched for ‘how to cut your own hair’ in the last month alone, but with long tail queries and variations in keywords use, searches around this topic amount to millions.
That's a golden tip for any hair dresser, hair colourist, or barber. Viewers are actively searching for tutorial content that perhaps only you can provide!
We also checked Google Trends for YouTube, and search interest in the phrases ‘how to cut your own hair’, 'haircut tutorial,' and 'how to cut hair at home' all, unsurprisingly, spiked in March and April 2020 around the world:
So, according to both Google Trends and vidIQ statistics, a massive amount of people are searching (and could keep searching) for hair care content!
As a beauty professional, you have the expertise to create these kinds of videos, upload them to YouTube, and monetize them to make extra income. Now, let's take a look at another couple of people creators:
As a licensed esthetician, Michelle Marino creates beauty, style, and health videos. She’s reached many milestones on her growing channel, and the 40.8K subscribers she’s earned over the years is proof of that. If you specialize in skincare, her channel is a great source of inspiration for starting your own YouTube journey as a beauty professional.
Furthermore, if you offer facials as a part of your business, watch the video below. Michelle shows her viewers how to give themselves a facial at home and combat stress acne, which she says can happen during social isolation. As some people cut back on close-contact services, such as skin-healing treatments, this is a great example of the kind of content you could be making and monetizing on YouTube:
In addition to that, every video provides an opportunity to guide viewers to another income stream you’ve set up. For example, in the description of the above video, Michelle has various affiliate links for viewers to purchase products she endorses. And every time one of her viewers makes a purchase, she earns a commission.
Sona Gasparian has a massive following of 762K YouTube subscribers. But don’t let that number intimidate you. As we saw with Michelle Marino and Lana Summer, creating the right kind of content can help beginners to intermediate YouTubers reach new heights on the platform.
On her channel, Sona uses her status as a professional makeup artist to produce high-quality videos on skincare, hair care, and fashion. However, one of her makeup videos in particular is extremely relevant to professionals that work from home.
In the video below, Sona gives a tutorial on how to look presentable in a video conference:
Do your clients have a work from home makeup routine? If so, could it be better, faster, and a tad more glamorous? Create a YouTube channel and invite your clients to subscribe.
With consistent effort, you can use your network of customers to eventually earn the Watch Time requirements for monetizing your videos.
As you grow your YouTube channel, you’ll have the ability to take your audience with you across the internet. If you want to make money beyond AdSense revenue, there are a few ways to do that as a beauty professional:
No matter what your expertise is in the beauty industry, you can use your skillset to make money on YouTube. All it takes is the right YouTube education, a knack for creating helpful videos, and a passion for building your online platform.
If you want more insights into YouTube then make sure to download vidIQ. Over 1 million creators use vidIQ to help with keyword and competitor research, channel audits, and so much more. Click here to install now for free!
Lydia Sweatt is a writer who loves balancing her article/blog time indoors with a healthy dose of nature. She bikes, hikes, and identifies edible plants along the way.
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