How to Make Money on YouTube
This article provides a step by step guide on how to make money on YouTube. Before I go straight to the main content, I like to express my excitement about this generation of ours. Why the excitement? In this generation, there are many avenues one can take to make money legitimately.
And in some cases, it doesn’t even require a lot of physical exertion to make money. You see people doing some funny things and still making a lot of money from it. It wasn’t like this in the past. That is why I consider this generation a blessed one. In fact, it is almost becoming like a sin to be poor. Of course, you may not have all the money, but with the opportunities that surround us today, one can easily live a decent life without breaking a bank.
So today, I will be showing you one way among others, that you can use to make money online. Specifically, you will learn how to make money on YouTube. Quickly, I will like to ask if you have ever heard about YouTube before? There is every likelihood that your answer will be ‘yes’. To take it further, it is even possible that you have watched videos on YouTube. Have you ever wondered why people upload videos on the platform now and then? The truth of the matter is that, a lot of people are earning big money from the videos you see on YouTube. You may not know this and I can’t blame anybody for this. To clear your doubt, let me quickly share the list of the top YouTubers and their earnings.
Top 10 Highest Paid YouTube Stars
According to Forbes, below are the list of top highest paid YouTube stars in 2018.
| S/N | Name/Channel | Age | Revenue |
| 1 | Ryan Toyreviews | 7 years | $22 million |
| 2 | Jake Pual | 21 years | $21.5 million |
| 3 | Dude Perfect (5 Members) | Late 20s & Early 30s | $20 million |
| 4 | Daniel Middelton | 27 years | $18.5 million |
| 5 | Jeffree Star | 33 years | $18 million |
| 6 | Mark Edward Fischbach | 29 years | $17.5 million |
| 7 | Evan Fong | 26 years | $17 million |
| 8 | Sean McLaughlin | 28 years | $16 million |
| 9 | Felix Kjellberg | 27 years | $15.5 million |
| 10 | Logan Paul | 23 years | $14.5 million |
How many executives earn such amount in the corporate world? While there is nothing bad in working in a corporate setting, there are actually many opportunities in the outside world. So, if you can get a corporate job; that is not the end of the road for you. The good news is that, you can make money on YouTube. Do you know why I share the list of the top 10 YouTubers with you? I want you to know that people are really making big money on YouTube. Also, I intentionally added the age of these 10 highest paid YouTube stars so that you will know that age is not a barrier. That is, if a seven year old boy can be earning $22 million, then you too can do it. Although you may not be able to come close to what these 10 highest paid YouTube stars earn, but you can start from somewhere. The truth is that, they all started from somewhere. Your target may just be to earn between $1,000 and $5,000 per month. I want you to develop “I can do it” attitude. When there is a will, there is a way. Once this aspect is settled, I can now go on discussing how to make money on YouTube.
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How to make money on YouTube
I want you to know that every business has a strategy. No matter how lucrative a business venture is, one may fail woefully doing it if he didn’t adopt the right strategy. Thousands of people sign up to YouTube daily with the hope that they have finally landed a goldmine. But how many of them are actually making money from the platform? They started with a very high spirit but within a short space of time, they gave up. By reading this guide on how to make money on YouTube, I want to believe that your case will be different. Below are the steps you will need to take if you want to earn money from YouTube.
Create a YouTube Channel: This is the starting point. How do you create a YouTube channel? It is very simple. You will need to register Google account. If you don’t know, Google owns YouTube. However, if you are having a Google account already, you only need to login to YouTube with your Google account details. The same email address you use to login to your Gmail account gives you access to other Google products. But if you are yet to have Google account, you will need to create one by clicking on “Sign In” at the top right corner of the YouTube page. This will take you to the page below:
When you click on “Create account”, you will be given an option whether you want to create the account for yourself or to manage your business.
Choose the one that is appropriate for you and then fill in your details. Google allows you to use a name or photo that’s different from what you have for your Google Account on YouTube to connect your channel to a brand account. Once you have created your account, you can now sign into YouTube. You will see the user icon at the top right side of the screen. Click on the user icon and then click on the gear icon to get to your account’s YouTube settings. Then, click on “Create a new channel”. You can use a business or other name for your brand name. I will suggest that you use a name that can be easily remembered. The name should not be too long. Once you have added your brand name, you will then click “create”. That is how to create your YouTube channel.
After your channel has been created, you will need to update your profile and describe what your channel is all about. The description is limited to 1,000 characters. So you have a little room to be creative here. It is advisable that the description you are giving to your channel contains important keywords that will be relevant to your content. This will make people to easily locate you any time they are searching for information that is relevant to what you will be uploading. If you have a blog or website and other social media page, you can also include the link. A lot of bloggers use YouTube to drive traffic to their blogs. Also, you need to create your profile banner or photo. Your banner should be attractive enough. Your banner is another avenue to promote yourself to your audience. You should optimize your YouTube channel art with best channel art size of 2560 pixels wide by 1440 pixels tall. Nevertheless, you need to understand that channel art looks different on desktop, mobile, and TV displays. Therefore, you should be careful to ensure that all your important information such as branding, text, taglines, and key images are within this space so that it’s always displayed as part of your channel art across every device.
Define your niche: This is a critical step that you cannot afford to get wrong. If I may ask. Why did you create your channel in the first place? Some people just create their YouTube channel so that they can make money. They don’t have a target audience neither do they have specific thing they want to offer. This is definitely not how to make money on YouTube. This approach will only lead to frustration. You need to properly define your demography. For instance, you need to have a clear understanding about the gender, age and location of your potential audience. Having this understanding will enhance your money making potential on YouTube. For instance, if your audience are primarily from your locality, it will be wrong to expect sponsorship from a foreign country. Sponsorship is one of the ways one can make money on YouTube. I will talk more on this later. If you really want to make big money on YouTube, your target market should be wide enough. For instance, somebody that targets both male and female may be able to enjoy more visits than another person that only target male. Another important factor to consider is your keyword. For instance, people search for keywords like “jokes” and “comedy” in large number every month. When I carried out the keywords search, see the result I got below:
jokes [1,830,000/mo – $0.15 – 0.02]
comedy [2,240,000/mo – $0.92 – 0]
Let’s compare it with someone that targets ‘drama’ as his keyword. The keyword search result for drama is:
drama [450,000/mo – $0.76 – 0.01]
I know you may not understand this now. I will explain to you. What this means is that the words “jokes”, “comedy” and “drama” attract 1,830,000, 2,240,000 and 450,000 searches per month respectively while the amount advertisers are willing to pay for each click per the keywords are $0.15, $0.92 and $0.76 respectively. This means that advertisers are willing to pay more for the keyword “comedy” than any of the other two keywords. The third figures indicate how competitive the keywords are. The higher this figure, the more competitive is the keyword. Let’s play with figures so that you can have a better understanding of what I am saying:
Let’s assume that the ad Click Through Rate (CTR) of each of the above keywords is 1%, meaning that 1 out of every 100 people clicks the ad, the revenue generated will be as follows:
| Keyword | No of Visits | CTR | No. of Clicks | CPC | Revenue |
| Jokes | 1,830,000 | 1% | 18,300 | 0.15 | 2,745 |
| Comedy | 2,240,000 | 1% | 22,400 | 0.92 | 20,608 |
| Drama | 450,000 | 1% | 4,500 | 0.76 | 3,420 |
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Even though the three keywords are related, there is every likelihood for you to make more money on your YouTube channel if your target “comedy”. Another thing I want you to consider is that, the keyword “Drama” was able to return higher revenue than “Jokes” despite the fact that it only attracts just about one quarter of searches “Jokes” attracts. This is made possible as a result of its higher CPC. There are certain keywords with CPC as high as $20. However, you should understand that the above example is just for illustration. It does not take care of YouTube share of revenue or other factors.
Therefore, if you really want to make money on YouTube, you should carry out your keywords research properly. There is always a trade-off. At times, you find keywords with low searches but with high CPC. On the other hand, you can find keywords with high volume of searches but with low CPC. You will need to decide on which option to follow. But I need to let you know that high CPC keywords have their disadvantages too. If you want to advertise your YouTube channels, you should prepare to pay higher rates too. Nevertheless, keyword is just one of the factors to consider. There are other important factors you should consider while deciding on your niche. It is important that you follow your passion too. It will be wrong for you to target a keyword just because of its high CPC or the number of searches it attracts. The choice of keyword will only be relevant when you have different keywords that are applicable to what you do. Just like the example I chose above. Comedy, drama and jokes are very closely related. Therefore, one can then choose to focus on comedy. Nevertheless, a combination of these three related keywords in the description of your YouTube channel will ensure you are not leaving your potential audience out. If you optimize your channel very well, Google can help drive free visits to your channel.
Start uploading Contents: Without content, your YouTube channel will be virtually empty. You shouldn’t expect any subscriber if you don’t have any content in your channel. If you are not selling anything, it will be wrong to expect buyers to patronize you. YouTube is a global platform. That means your competitors are not just people in your neighbourhood. You are competing with other YouTubers that are spread across the world. Your content should, therefore, be of a very high standard. The level of standard that will be expected of you may be influenced by your target audience. Whomever your target audience are, you should ensure that your contents are not sexually suggestive, (including partial nudity and sexual humour). It should not portray any act of violence, (including display of serious injury and events related to violent extremism). You should avoid the use of inappropriate language, (including harassment, profanity and vulgar language). You should not encourage the promotion of drugs and regulated substances, (including selling, use and abuse of such items). It should not contain controversial or sensitive subjects and events, (including subjects related to war, political conflicts, natural disasters and tragedies, even if graphic imagery is not shown). It doesn’t matter how long you have created your YouTube channel, if you fail to comply with YouTube terms and conditions, your account can be terminated.
Build your audience: One common thing about the top highest paid YouTube stars is that, they have a lot of subscribers. But they didn’t get to that level in a day. Therefore, you need to start building your subscribers base. Let me share with you the secrets that people are using to grow their YouTube subscribers. Firstly, you should endeavour to build contents around your main keywords. When people are visiting your channel, they are already having some expectation about the videos they want to watch based on the description of your channel. If your keywords are about jokes and comedy, you may not be able to attract subscribers if you usually deviate from your topic. As you continue to progress, you will understand the type of videos that attract more viewers. Generally, the videos that are optimized for less than five minutes in length usually enjoy high conversion. Therefore, you should try as much as possible to keep your videos short. Nevertheless, you should also make them informative and entertaining. You should not hesitate to reformat your existing videos if necessary. You should also consider creating a playlist that shows off your best content and use it to introduce your audience to your channel. This will allow your viewers to continue watching without having to manually search for and click into the next video. With this, you will be able to engage your viewers longer. The longer you are able to engage people visiting your channel, the higher their possibility of subscribing to your channel.
You can use social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter to drive traffic to your channel. Whether you open your YouTube channel for yourself or to promote your business, you will attract more subscribers if you brand your channel. This will make you look professionally and people will likely take you more seriously. If you can upload videos regularly and possibly on schedule, people will be looking forward to a particular time or day to watch your videos. This frequency helps you retain subscribers as well as helps you attract new free YouTube subscribers. Don’t just upload videos anyhow. Ensure that you edit your videos thoroughly before uploading them. You should use a good thumbnail that will motivate people to click the video. Your title should be very enticing. No matter the quality of your videos, if the thumbnail and the title are bad, you may hardly see anyone that will be interested in them.
If you have blog, embedding your videos on the blog with a call to visitors to subscribe to your channel will also help you grow your subscribers. Just like blogging, you should not forget that YouTube is a video blogging platform too. Therefore, you should endeavour to interact with your subscribers by responding to their comments. This can make your subscribers to remain loyal to you. Don’t be afraid to collaborate with other YouTubers by promoting each other’s videos. You can promote your videos on other social media such as Facebook, Twitter and StumbleUpon. You will need to plan your video promotion in such a way that will help you get as many subscribers as possible. Of course, I will expect that you promote your best videos.
There is something I should tell you here. Don’t just assume that people that visit your channel will subscribe on their own. You may need to put the word across to them that they should subscribe to your channel. You can even take a step further by incentivizing them through subscriber-only giveaway.
Advertising is another way of promoting your channel: If you have few bucks to spend, you can consider advertising your channel on YouTube too. Video content is leading the way in the content marketing scene. And so far, YouTube is the leading platform for video marketing. Therefore, you can be sure that your ads will reach the right target on YouTube. Of course, since your motive is to make money through your YouTube channel, you should see this ads spend as investment.
Monetize your Videos: Before you can place your YouTube embedded ads in your videos, you need at least 4,000 watch hours in the previous 12 months and 1000 subscribers. This is actually a hard hurdles for beginners. That tells you why I didn’t jump to teaching you how to make money on YouTube. You need to grow your subscribers first. Your first set of subscribers may be your immediate family, friends and relations. From there, you will continue to grow the number. But you need to ensure that you upload content regularly. And the videos should be of high quality. If you really plan to make money on YouTube, you will need to make some investment. You need working tools such as HD camera or webcam, video editing software, computer and microphone.
How to Monetize YouTube Channel
Let me now give you more detailed information on how to make money on YouTube. There are different monetization methods you can use and these are discussed below:
Advertisement: After you have met the requirements of at least 4,000 watch hours in the previous 12 months and 1000 subscribers, it is not automatic that ads will start showing on your videos. When you upload your videos, you will need to click the monetization tab and then click the “monetize with ads” option. For the videos that have been uploaded, you still have the opportunity to monetize them. You do this by opening your video manager. You will see a dollar sign ($) next to your videos. You will then click the dollar sign that is next to the videos you want to run ads on. Before I forget, you need Google AdSense Account. If your Google AdSense is approved, you can then link it with your YouTube channel. This will allow ads to appear on your videos. You will start earning money each time people view or click the ads. But if you only rely on Ads revenue, you may not make much money on YouTube. Advertisers only pay when someone clicks an ad or watches for certain number of seconds. If your video gets millions of views but nobody clicks on ads, then you don’t earn any money. You should be familiar with the different YouTube Ads. The type of Ads you place in your videos may influence how viewers will respond to it. Below are different types of YouTube Ads that you can run in your videos.
- Display ads: These are usually displayed beside your video. The advertisers will either pay you when a viewer sees or clicks on the ad.
- Overlay ads: These are small ads at the bottom of a video : You get paid for this kind of ads if a viewer clicks on the ad to expand it.
- Skippable video ads: Viewers will see these ads at the start of a video. The ads can be skipped after five seconds. The advertisers pay if a viewer watches the whole ad or at least 30 seconds if it’s longer. These are the commonest type of YouTube ad.
- Non-skippable video ads. This is like the skippable video ads. The only difference is that , viewers can’t skip over the ads. It is a bumper ads on mobile. The viewers will see the short ads at the start of a video. You will get paid if a viewer watches an entire ad.
- Midroll ads: These are ads that appear in the middle of a longer video. you will get paid if a viewer watches the entire ad or for at least 30 seconds)
Please note that you must be at least 18 years old before you can be accepted into YouTube Partner Program. If you are below 18 years. You must have a legal guardian older than 18 years of age who will help handle your payments via AdSense. You should understand that you don’t receive 100% of YouTube advertising revenue. Google keeps 45% of every dollar paid by advertisers while you receive 55%.
Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate marketing is one of the most profitable ways to make money online. How does it work? You simply apply to be an affiliate of a reputable organization that offers affiliate program. If your application is approved, your job is to refer someone to their online product. You do this by referring people to your unique affiliate tracking link. When a person clicks on the link and buys the product based on your recommendation, you receive a commission. There are affiliate marketers who are making thousands of dollars a month via affiliate marketing. If you choose products that align with your YouTube channel, affiliate marketing can be a good way to make money on YouTube. While you can earn $1 per 1000 views through ads, you can earn much more with affiliate marketing. There are some affiliate programs that pay as high as $50 per action. So, with affiliate marketing, you may not need large subscribers before you start making money on YouTube. For instance, if you have 1,000 subscribers or viewers in a month, you may just earn a meagre ads revenue within the range of $1 to $2. But with the same 1,000 viewers, if just 5 of them make a purchase via your affiliate tracking link, you can earn as much as $250. Can you see the gap? Therefore, if you really want to make money on YouTube, you should not depend on Ads revenue only. Since commission percentages usually range between 5-15%, it is better you link to expensive products if you don’t have a large subscribers. Some popular affiliate sponsorship for YouTube include are Amazon, Skillshare, Target, PointsPrizes and Movavi.
Read Also: How to Start Affiliate Marketing Business
Sponsorship: Sponsorship is another good way to make money on YouTube. This can be paid sponsorship, product sponsorship or affiliate sponsorship. However, the types of content creators that can most often take advantage of these kinds of sponsorship are review channels. Brands don’t usually sponsor YouTube channels that are not relevant to their products. Defining your niche makes the content highly relevant and targeted. If your audience is not in their targeted market, there’s no gain for them to pay to be featured on your channel. Also you will need to have large number of subscribers. Sponsorship usually comes in the form of brief advertising spots at the middle and end of videos. If you want to get a sponsorship, especially for product reviewing, you may need to reach out to the brand or business on your own to find out what you can do for them. It will also be beneficial if you add a business email address to your channel. This will enable sponsors that interest in your contents to be able to contact you for business inquiries. If you plan to seek for sponsorship, you need to create high quality contents. You must have a library of valuable content that potential sponsors can browse through in your channel. When you reach out to a brand asking for sponsorship, the brand will want to check out your YouTube channel to see if you’re fit for the collaboration. Ensure that your contents do not constitute any infringement as no sponsors would wish to get associated with channels that might be erased due to the strategy infringement. For example, unauthorized music, nude photos, and videos, excessive cursing of users are questionable contents. It will not only drive away sponsors, your channel can be deleted. YouTube can terminate your account and revoke your YouTube partnership with Google.
Selling Your Own Products: This seems to be the most profitable way of making money on YouTube. You do this by creating your digital products. This can be software like website templates and plugins; ebooks, photography products, video and digital art. You will then open an online store on reputable e-commerce website such as Shopify, Site123, BigCommerce, Volusion and Vix. How will you then sell your products on YouTube? All you need to do is to mention your product in YouTube videos and link to your store from the description. The beauty of this is that, digital products don’t require much start-up capital and are a passive source of income. In case you don’t have digital products, you can still use your YouTube channel to sell your merchandise or service. It starts by providing free tips on how to do something or how to use a particular product. If you are able to establish yourself as an authority in your chosen field, a lot of people will start contacting you for paid engagement.
Licencing: If you are the type that watches videos, you must have come across some videos that went viral on the internet. If you have such type of video, you can license it to a media company. If the arrangement works out, the media company will pay you for the use of the video. You can pitch your videos to several media houses before you settle for a particular one. This will enhance your earning potential as you will have the opportunity to negotiate better.
Donation: You can use your YouTube channel to receive donation. This may not apply to everyone. It only applies to those who create not-for-profit channel on YouTube. It requires that you apply for an online payment processing service with Google that will manage the donations. If you don’t see a donation page on your channel, it means that you are not eligible for it.
In conclusion, with all the different methods of YouTube monetization discussed, you need to consider your channel location, demographics, and performance. This will help you determine the monetization options that seem like a good fit for you. Also, you should endeavour to track the performance of your videos by analyzing the metrics such as like vs dislike ratio, positive comments, number of social shares and number of views. This will give you some good ideas about the type of content people enjoy watching on YouTube. You will be able to focus more on the videos with high number of social shares and number of views. The more views your videos generate, the more revenue you will likely earn on YouTube. In all, it will be good if you can diversify your revenue. Don’t just stick to one method. A combination of two or three monetization methods will help you earn more money on YouTube. I believe with this article, you now know how to make money on YouTube. But knowledge is not enough. You need to take a step. I wish you good luck.
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