Last month, something stopped me in my tracks while I was creating coaching content for my coaching channel. I was teaching “How to start a YouTube channel”, going through the motions, when I had a realization that didn’t sit right with me in terms of content trends. For years, I’ve been deeply familiar with SEO—it’s my jam. I love it. SEO is how I understand trends and make money online efficiently. When you grasp the magic of SEO, making money becomes much easier than just throwing spaghetti at the wall. My content was strategic, high-paying, and even though it wasn’t getting massive views, I was confident in my approach.
However, as I refined my strategy, I noticed a stark difference between doing SEO in 2018 and in 2025. The difference? Everyone knows how to do it now. There are countless fancy tools available, but I’ve stuck to old-school methods and haven’t even felt the need to invest in Semrush or other premium tools. The truth is, old-school SEO still works. In fact, I feel like many SEO tools just regurgitate the same generic insights that everyone else is getting.
This brings me to the moment that stopped me in my tracks. While researching for my YouTube content, I started checking out the “greats”—Codie Sanchez, Gary Vee, and others. As I scrolled, I realized they were all using the same YouTube titles. Now, don’t get me wrong—this is what SEO is all about. If “black cats” start trending, you can create content around black cats and land on Google’s first page with some high-value material. But how is it that every internet personality is naming their videos the exact same way? For example, “How to Look Poor.”
This makes me uncomfortable. Influencers preach about looking poor while flaunting private jets and high lifestyle on social media. Are we even paying attention as a society, or do we just not care anymore? Do we really click on the tenth “How to Look Poor” video with the same enthusiasm, anxiously awaiting yet another recycled take from a different face?
Here’s the point—I felt bored. It seemed like everyone was becoming a copy-paste version of each other. It also felt like there was this unspoken pressure that everything needed to be said, that everyone needed a voice, and that every thought had to be shared. But honestly, is there anything left to say that hasn’t already been said? Content creators are constantly regurgitating knowledge without proper credit, presenting themselves as if they hold the secret to success. It’s hard to identify who truly is a legitimate source and I find myself scouring the internet for smaller, less-known faces that might have what might be deemed “terrible” content (much like mine, lol!) because I find that I love the authenticity and the content has not been bleach washed yet by a bigger production.
This hit me hard because when I started Her Money Mentor, I wanted to focus on financial literacy and making money online. I looked for unique angles—like “How to Make $100 with This Product”—and those performed well! But alongside that original content, I also felt compelled (or maybe forced) to create what SEO suggested. And that was frustrating. Sure, a video on 5 Ways to fix Your Credit would do better than others, but the reality is that if the video converts, it will convert. You don’t need more views to get more customers, so you might as well be your authentic self and work with people who want you because they like what you have to say and not because of your fancy editing and effects.
I love SEO, and I used to feel excited when I found hidden gem keywords, knowing I was about to create something special. But recently, I noticed that trending personal finance topics barely scratch the surface. I felt like I was doing a disservice by creating content that was, at its core, already overdone. How many ways can you truly fix your credit?
Now, to be clear, I’m not saying that just because something has been done before, you shouldn’t do it. If that were the case, businesses wouldn’t exist. There are times when seeing others succeed in a niche means there’s room for you or an opportunity to do it better. That’s exactly what I teach my clients when we discuss starting a business, or otherwise known as their unique value proposition. But my frustration wasn’t that the content existed—it was that it was over-bearing”ly” existing. And that made me feel unmotivated.
On top of that, with my recent job departure, I was asked to sign a non-compete regarding commercial credit. That was disheartening, even though I hadn’t planned to pursue that without my former company’s support. They were the best in the industry, but their management and marketing efforts were declining, leaving me to pick up the pieces (as I discussed in my latest YouTube video).
So, what now?
I wanted to share some updates and findings on current content structures. I was monetizing well with my last blog post—“How to Make Money Online”—which provided a step-by-step guide on affiliate marketing and proof of my results. And of course, in true fashion, I had to shake things up.
I recently connected with Kevin, owner of Media2Shine Marketing, and we decided to experiment with comedic content for social media. We created a series of comedic reels to test some theories, and here’s what I found:
Regardless of industry, the copy/paste content trend still dominates. We struggled to think of original comedy content, which led us to seek inspiration online for content trends. In turn, we fell into the duplicate content trap! This seems to be the trend, but I suspect if we had a great writer on the team we likely wouldn’t have had to resort to this approach, since it’s obviously a point of contention for me, but in the name of science, we go forth!
Our comedic content outperformed in engagement, my finance-related coaching/talking-head videos, as well as beauty/makeup “get ready with me” content. Comedy was a clear winner for engagement. It’s important to note that when we create content, we are actually accidentally typecasting ourselves. What this means for each of us individually is that your “look” (whether we like it or not) also affects your results and how your content will perform, specifically as it pertains to comedy. So in conclusion results may vary, but the results worked better for me than I expected.
Now, monetizing comedy is awful. YouTube’s RPM rate for long form comedy content is nearly $20 less per 1K views compared to finance content. (Please fact check me, this actually changes all the time!) It’s baffling that comedy is what people want to see, yet it pays pennies—an injustice to comedians everywhere. And now, I feel that pain firsthand!
Below is a comparison column of my long form finance related videos versus short form comedy and misc content that I tested along the way.
Yesterday, comedy paid me .10 cents so begs the question does frequency manipulate money? Anyways, my long form finance content was paying better with less views, can you imagine? I can. That’s showbiz baby!
Since we saw that comedy performed well, we dug deeper. We considered whether virality was influenced by who was creating the content instead of just the content trends. We suspected that content from well-known personalities gained traction simply because of their following. To test this, we recruited YEBO and added more characters to our reels. Sure enough, the engagement skyrocketed. However, once again—no financial return.
So how do you monetize comedy content?
We plan to try one more experiment utilizing the Instagram product tag feature, which allows users to tag products in their posts, stories, and reels. When a user taps on a tagged product, they can see the product’s description, price, photos, and videos. They can then buy the product directly in-app or from the brand’s website. An example of that can be seen here where I collaborated with Pranvera Skincare to feature their complete skincare bundle.
The results? To be updated in this blog post, feel free to sign up for my newsletter The Vault to receive an update on this update for content trends!
Final Thoughts
Humorous content is fantastic for engagement and keeping your account boosted, which in turn helps drive visibility to other content on your page. Momentum is crucial for content success. If you’re planning to post comedic content with the goal of monetization, you have three main options:
- Aim for virality and leverage Instagram’s Reel Bonus payouts.
- Utilize the “Tag Products” feature in your app, incorporating wearable or usable products organically into your videos
- Accept payment for brand collaborations.
That’s it for now—thanks for reading! Excited to see where this content journey leads next.
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