How to Find YouTube Video Ideas That Actually Make You Money
Creating YouTube videos that consistently bring in sales isn’t about luck, fancy equipment, or expensive editing software. It’s about strategy. If you’re a business owner using YouTube as a marketing tool, random video ideas won’t cut it. Instead, your video topics need to serve a purpose: attracting your ideal audience and converting them into clients. In this blog post, I’m breaking down the three exact research strategies I use to come up with video ideas that make me at least $100 a day and how you can use them to create a more profitable channel.
Why Your Video Topic Matters More Than Your Camera
Before we dive into the methods, it’s important to understand why choosing the right video topic is the foundation of your YouTube success. YouTube isn’t just about showing up; it’s about showing up with content that drives results.
Videos without a clear purpose, ones that are chosen at random from a long list or based on a trend, often confuse the YouTube algorithm and attract the wrong audience. The result? Fewer sales, slower growth, and a channel that’s not aligned with your business goals.
If you’re ready to create strategic content, let’s get into the first method: niche neighbor analysis.
Research Method #1: Niche Neighbor Analysis
Niche neighbor analysis is a technique I teach inside my YouTube Coaching Experience. Instead of looking at other creators as competitors, we look at them as niche neighbors—channels that already speak to your ideal client.
What Is a Niche Neighbor?
A niche neighbor is any creator who is attracting the audience you want to reach, even if their topic isn’t identical to yours. For example, while I’m a YouTube strategist, my niche neighbors also include Instagram experts, marketing educators, and copywriters—because we all speak to business owners selling courses or services.
How to Find and Analyze Niche Neighbors
Start by identifying YouTube channels that are talking to the same audience you want to reach. Then look for:
Which of their videos are getting the most views
The main topics of those high-performing videos
Patterns in what content their audience loves
You’re not copying titles or thumbnails, you’re using the topic as inspiration, because it’s been validated by real data. For extra insight, go into the comments section of their top videos. This is a gold mine.
Bonus Tip: Use ChatGPT to Analyze Comments
Copy the comments and paste them into ChatGPT. Ask for a summary of what questions people are asking and what they’re most interested in. This can reveal hidden pain points, objections, or desires your content can directly address.
Research Method #2: Profitable Keyword Framework
Once you’ve looked at what’s already resonating with your audience on other channels, it’s time to bring in real search data to validate your own ideas.
Why YouTube-Specific Data Matters
Don’t rely on Google search tools. People search differently on YouTube, and if you’re using keyword data from Google, you could be missing what people are really typing into the YouTube search bar.
Using VidIQ to Discover High-Performing Topics
My go-to tool for YouTube keyword research is VidIQ. It helps you:
Search for topics based on “seed words” (broad ideas like “digital marketing” or “sales funnel”)
See related keywords and their monthly search volume
Validate whether an idea is being searched enough to be worth creating a video on
You want to aim for topics that get searched at least 1,000 times per month. That ensures your content is discoverable.
Connecting Ideas to Build a Content Plan
Once you identify multiple profitable topics, you can begin tying them together. For example, if you’re a LinkedIn strategist and see that both “LinkedIn marketing” and “low-ticket sales” are trending, you could combine them into a video like “How to Sell Low-Ticket Offers Using LinkedIn Marketing.”
Research Method #3: Your Own Channel Analytics
Finally, your own YouTube analytics can be a goldmine if you know what to look for.
What to Look For in Analytics
Start by checking your click-through rate (CTR). High CTR means your title and thumbnail are doing their job. Next, review audience retention to see if viewers are staying until the end. If they are, they’re more likely to hear your call to action and take it.
Also, take note of what content is converting. If you’ve connected your YouTube videos to Google Analytics, track which videos are driving actual sales. In my case, YouTube traffic converts at around 35%—proof that video topics tied to a solid strategy pay off.
Turn High-Performing Videos Into a Strategy
If a video performed well in terms of clicks and retention, that’s a clue. Ask yourself: Can you expand this into a series? Can you build a playlist funnel with related topics? Which belief or objection can you address next?
Keep It Organized with the PREP System
When you’re researching video ideas from multiple sources, niche neighbors, keyword data, and your own analytics, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. That’s why I created the PREP System.
The PREP System is the exact workflow I use inside my Asana board to organize every step of YouTube production:
Plan your content using strategic research
Research and script efficiently
Execute and optimize with checklists
Publish consistently with batching support
Whether you’re managing your own channel or working with a team, the PREP System streamlines your process and helps you show up with confidence every single week.
A Final Word on Structuring for Sales
Even with the best video topic, your job isn’t done until the video is structured to keep attention and drive action. That means:
Hooking viewers in the first 30 seconds
Teasing what’s coming later in the video
Delivering clear, focused value
Ending with a strong, relevant call to action
If your viewers never hear the offer at the end, they’ll never convert. Retention and scripting matter just as much as the research that got them there.
Next Steps: Build Your Playlist Funnel
Once you have a few proven topics, don’t just scatter them across your channel. Group them strategically into a bingeable playlist, what I call a playlist funnel.
A playlist funnel is like a public-facing email sequence: it walks a cold viewer through your best insights, warms them up with belief-shifting content, and gets them ready to buy, sometimes in one sitting.
I’ve had clients make sales from videos with fewer than 20 views because the content was strategic, relevant, and led viewers toward a solution.
Ready to Make YouTube Work for You?
YouTube doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. By focusing on the right video topics, backed by strategy and supported by a system, you can turn your channel into a sales engine.
If you’re ready to organize your ideas, stay consistent, and turn views into income, grab my PREP System to get started today.
