YouTube is no longer a platform you can just watch videos or just upload your video nowadays, it has become an important source of information and social networking. With millions of users streaming YouTube daily, you can start making money on YouTube.
You don’t have to be a celebrity or popular before you start making money on YouTube. All you need to is to properly and strategically plan.
As a content creator, making money on YouTube isn’t so easy because you are in a competition with a whole lot of people and you have to stand out amidst them.
1. YouTube Ad services
When it comes to partnering with YouTube, there are certain things you must take note of and follow. This is, you must have a minimum of 4000 hours of watch time on all your videos uploaded on your channel in a year or 12 months and you must have at least 1000 subscribers on your channel.
There is no direct way to have 4000 hours of watch time in all your video, it’s left to you to decide how you want to do it.
When you become a partner, and you are able to hit the number of hours you can start making money from ads; it could be Ads before your video or in between your video or Google Ad services.
To know if you can start making money on YouTube, there’s a green $ sign on your YouTube video manager.
People who use YouTube premium pay $11.99 to remove ads while watching videos on YouTube. Content creators are paid by YouTube based on the engagement and views your video has. That is the CPI (cost per impression), CPM (cost per mille), CPV (cost per view), CPC (cost per click) rate.
2. Marketing your YouTube
Marketing your YouTube videos involves using your blog to inform people about your YouTube content.
The more people subscribe to your blog, you’ll have their e-mail address, that way you are able to sell your products to them.
If you are selling a product, or you are recommending a certain product, you can make a YouTube video and insert it in your blog post. That way, you can create an affiliate link for the product you are recommending.
That is, you are identifying a problem that your viewers and fans might have and to help them solve the problem, you are recommending something for them to use, linking your YouTube channel to the product.
This means you’ll be referring people to your website and to the affiliate link from YouTube. With that, there is an increase in your blog readers and at the same time making money.
Your viewers will be clicking the link because they trust you and what you say. Building trust will mean that you are identifying problems your viewers are facing and you’re helping them to solve or teaching them how to solve them through your videos.
Also, you could link your YouTube channel to an E-commerce platform like Amazon or Shopify.
Finally, you can review products for brands on your YouTube video or get brands who need you to mention them on your video for people to recognize them, based on your number of subscribers and views, who in turn will pay you.
3. Effectively use YouTube SEO
To effectively use your YouTube SEO, you should perform keyword research as you would for your website to know what exactly people are searching for on YouTube.
Ensure you take note of SEO analysis; keyword length, video title, tags, and description. You can use Twinword Ideas to have an insight into what people are looking for when they come across your videos.
What to take note of about YouTube SEO ranking;
- Length of video
- Number of subscribers
- CTR(Click Through Rate) on YouTube SERP
- Number of comments
- Likes and dislikes
4. Crowdfunding or donations
This is another way to start making money on YouTube and to raise enough funds to make more videos on your channel, provided you’ve built a dedicated fan base over time.
You can make use of Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, or Patreon that enable your fans to support you by donating a certain amount either monthly (recurring) or one-off.
To keep your channel running, you can leverage donations from fans. If you will be doing that, ensure to work on building fans by providing relevant, valuable, entertaining, and interesting content. Everyone wants to always support what is valuable to them and they will be encouraged to donate.
5. Amazon Affiliate
In the same way, there are brand influencers on social media, who recommend the product they are influencing to their followers and fans.
As a YouTuber, you can start the Amazon Affiliate program. This program helps you to start making money by recommending Amazon to your viewers.
Joining the program means you can be able to review and recommend products on Amazon to your viewers so they can make purchases through an affiliate link.
Once your viewers click the link and make a purchase on Amazon, you’ll give a commission of about 8 – 10% on purchases made.
Check out 100+ high paying affiliate programs
However, to join this program, you must have a certain number of followers on your social media account, and you must meet up to their other criteria.
Things to note
- There is no fixed amount of money you can make on YouTube. It ranges from nothing to millions.
- Making money on YouTube can be challenging. However, you should be ready to put in the work.
- How profitable your channel is, depends on your niche and number of views.
- You can make use of YouTube revenue calculators to know how much money you can make based on your views.
- You can get a YouTube sponsorship from brands if you have a growing audience.
- Have a blog that you can link to your YouTube account.
- Provide relevant content for your viewers and build trust.
- You can sell your merchandise and promote it on your YouTube videos.
Summary
It is possible for you to start making money on YouTube. It might seem challenging, but once you have large and loyal followers, you are on your way to making a substantial amount of money.
As a content creator, you can make use of Google keyword planner to know what people are searching for. With that, you can plan to make use of the keywords on Youtube video tags and descriptions.
Also, you can promote and run ads for your YouTube videos on your social media. That way you are creating awareness for a wide reach and also generating traffic to your YouTube.
Remember, when it comes to making money on YouTube, you must provide valuable contents that even your viewers can share and in turn build the number of views your video has.
Thanks for reading.
