The internet has made it possible to monetize just about any skill, talent, or opportunity, more so on YouTube. This has become one of the most popular means of making money from home. At least it is marketed as such. So have you ever thought on how do you earn money on YouTube?
Whether you are thinking about joining the YouTube space, or have a struggling YouTube channel and wish to make more money from it. Or even if you already have a somewhat successful channel and are looking to monetize your content, then this article is for you.
First of all, we need to debunk some myths about YouTube. The most popular of which are: all you need to do is post original videos, attract a good number of viewers and finally, cash in on revenue generated from ads. If only it were that simple. It is not possible to make a healthy income based solely on YouTube ad revenue.
It is possible, however, to earn money on YouTube a viable source of income for yourself, but this is going to take a significant amount of time and effort. YouTube is not a get-rich-quick scheme. I know, shocking isn’t it? I mean we have all hear of the like of Zoella, PewDiePie, Logan Paul and more earning millions of dollars every year form their YouTube channel. The truth of the matter is that that’s the exception, not the norm. Not everyone can be able to make millions off of YouTube. But don’t let that dissuade you, there is more than enough money to be made on YouTube and here’s how:
- Advertising
Although it is highly unlikely to make a healthy income solely from ad revenue, advertising is one of how you can make money on YouTube. This is because, like most free services, YouTube is powered by advertising, well unless you are subscribed to YouTube premium. Some of the Money generated from YouTube ads goes to the channel and the rest of it to YouTube itself.
There are specific guidelines which YouTube has put in place to determine whether a channel is eligible for monetization. You can visit the YouTube partner program overview page for more details about this.
(https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/72851)
- Affiliate Marketing
This is one of the more popular means by which many websites make money. Through the use of affiliate links, you can create a unique URL to a website. When viewers follow that link and purchase the product in question, you get a small percentage of the sale. The most exciting thing about affiliate links is that they are super easy and fast to set up you do do not require sponsorship deals from brands. After discussing or featuring a product or service in your video, you can place an affiliate link to said product or service in the video description. This is a great passive source of income, make sure to disclose to your audience when you have used an affiliate link.
- Product Placement
This is an original form of marketing popularly used in movies and TV shows and works just as well on YouTube. Product placement involves using specific brands to promote them. On your channel, you may be able to strike a product placement deal with a manufacturer that’s related to the kind of content you create. Of course, you will first have to build a following before any brands want to partner with you like this. Product placement is a brilliant form of marketing because people can’t skip over the ad, and when executed well, the audience feels a connection to the content creator, thus regard the recommendation as authentic.
- Sponsored Videos
This is very similar to product placement, except instead of integrating a brand into an existing video like in product placement, a sponsored video is entirely based around a brand.
Basically what this means, instead of mentioning a product or service during your video, in sponsored videos you make the entire video about the product or service. Alternatively, you may choose to include a short sponsor message at the start of a video or even in the middle of the video. This is essentially a quick ad for the brand but separate from YouTube ads.
Like in product placement, you should be very careful with sponsored videos because if you don’t come off as genuine, your audience will likely find it in poor taste. Also, do not advertise sponsored products or services you’ve never actually used or don’t endorse. Your audience will hold you accountable.
- Selling Merchandise
This is another method of monetization that’s quickly catching on. Selling merchandise or merch as is popularly known on YouTube is one of the ways many YouTubers are making money. This involves creating merchandise to sell to your fans. Merch can be anything from t-shirts, wall art, mugs, caps, hoodies, and many more.
Many creators will offer designs featuring popular catchphrases, jokes, or art from their videos. They will also use the names which their fans use to identify themselves or even causes which they back. Basically anything the fan base of the particular channel will get behind. Once the designs are ready, let your audience know about the merch in a few videos, you can even feature some of it in a few videos and include a link to your merchandise page in the video description so that anyone interested can support you.
- Fan Funding
This is another way YouTubers make money. Through services like Patreon or SubscribeStar, fans can donate some money to help support their favorite channels.
Most creators who use this as a way of revenue creation offer some reward to their supporters; this may vary – in the form of a video chat or a mention at the end of the videos or even exclusive behind the scenes content. This is a great way to connect the channel with its biggest fans and provides a relatively steady form of revenue.
YouTube has recognized the potential behind this and now offers a Channel Membership feature. This allows viewers to sponsor the channel every month through YouTube in exchange for a few perks. But of course, this remains at the discretion of the creator whether or not they would like to use this feature or not.
- Live Speaking Engagements
If your channel focuses on specific or niche audiences, research on annual conferences or other industry events that have keynote speakers and leverage your YouTube reputation to attract live speaking engagements at these functions. These can be very lucrative as you may be able to earn hundreds if not thousands of dollars from just an hour-long presentation. They are also an invaluable opportunity to grow your audience, talk about a win-win situation, huh!
These are only a few of the favorite ways through which a content creator can earn money on YouTube; there are countless more ways; you have to get creative and quit relying on impression-based ad revenue. Any decent creator is continuously trying to identify new ways in which they may be able to leverage YouTube’s network to accomplish new revenue streams. And honestly, that’s how you can make money on YouTube.
