How to make money on YouTube: YouTube is the second most used social network, over 2 billion people actively use YouTube’s services.
People go on YouTube to learn or entertain themselves.
And the hours they spend on the platform are a valuable resource for people who want to make money on YouTube.
Many people have become celebrities or wealthy with the video streaming platform, YouTube.
With enough audience, you can achieve the same results.
If you are shy, there are videos in which you don’t even have to show your face to the audience.
There are several ways to go about making money on YouTube and we will share 8 of them in this article.
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8 Strategies to make money on YouTube
How much you can earn on YouTube depends on how much creativity and hard work you put in.
Youtube celebrity, Mr. Beast made $54 million in 2021. Adsense advertising is obviously the most common way to earn money on YouTube.
You simply create a free Google Adsense account and link it to your YouTube channel.
1. Become a YouTube Partner
You can join the YouTube Partner Program to open up multiple monetization streams for your channel.
Apart from ad revenue, partners can access special features like premium subscription fees and channel membership fees.
Another feature is charging fans who want their messages featured in chat streams with super chat. and merchandise sales.
You can also sell merch through YouTube’s merchandise shelf.
To be eligible for the YouTube Partner Program, you need to be at least 18 years old or have a legal guardian.
You must have a minimum of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of viewing time, all in the last 12 months.
That qualifies you to earn ad revenue and channel membership fees.
All the other features have extra eligibility requirements.
For instance, you can only access the merchandise shelf if you have 10,000 followers and above.
2. Offer Video Editing Services
Good quality videos are one way for YouTube content creators to stand out to their audience.
However, recording videos is the easy part, editing them is a different ball game entirely.
Some people find it very hard to edit their raw footage into polished videos.
And that’s an opportunity for anyone with video editing skills to make some money.
You can create a YouTube channel centered around video editing to draw in your target audience.
Or you could simply advertise the service in your videos and descriptions.
The key thing is to have the time and devices and software the job would require.
Your own channel is the ideal portfolio to dazzle intending clients.
3. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is big on YouTube.
You can get in on the action by registering under an affiliate program.
Some popular ones include the Amazon affiliate program, Clickbank, Impact and ShareASale.
You could also search for affiliate programs specific to your niche.
After registration, you get a unique link you can put in your video description.
You can earn from 1% to 75% commission every time someone purchases a product through your unique link.
The best way to stand out as an affiliate marketer is to review products and not just spew online reviews.
More than half of YouTube users say they watch product reviews before buying new products.
So you have a very large audience already.
You must disclose the fact that you earn commissions on affiliate links.
That would save you from a lot of legal troubles.
It also builds viewers’ trust especially if your videos help them solve real problems.
When viewers click on the ads shown on your videos, your Adsense account is credited.
However, that is not the only way to get some real cash on YouTube.
Some other ways to make money on YouTube are listed below.
4. Get a Brand Sponsorship
This is pretty close to affiliate marketing in the sense that you will be recommending products.
Careful though, it’s a turn-off if your videos are just ads with no real value to your audience.
Cleverly fit in the recommendation without making your video salesy.
You can pitch to brands directly or use intermediary platforms like FameBit.
The important thing is to work with quality brands that reflect your values and meet the needs of your audience.
Brands usually prefer to work with YouTubers with large and engaged audiences.
So, you’ll have to prove your worth in audience engagement when you approach a brand for sponsorship.
When you secure a sponsor, the brand pays you an agreed fee, you don’t have to wait for customers to make purchases.
If a brand gives you sponsorship, you should disclose that fact to your audience.
Withholding such information could put you in violation of YouTube’s, Google, the FTC or ASA policies.
5. Sell Custom Merchandise
If your content has amassed a loyal following on YouTube, you can venture into entrepreneurship by selling custom merch.
Merch can range from food and drinks to clothing and accessories.
Your merch should be unique as it is a way to fuel your audience’s connection to you.
It should have a sense of exclusivity so it retains value.
You can check out merchandise from other creators for inspiration.
You can make extra money from your merch by adding personal touches like autographs.
A genius marketing strategy is to involve your audience in deciding what product your merch should be.
It creates anticipation
Apart from getting a reliable manufacturer to supply your merch, you’ll need to sort out storage and shipping.
You’ll need a separate website to handle sales if you don’t qualify for YouTube’s merchandise shelf.
Promote your merch in your videos and add the link to your store in your video descriptions.
6. License Your Content to Media Houses
If your YouTube video goes viral, you can make some money in addition to gaining popularity.
News outlets are willing to part with some money to obtain a copy of a viral video if it will satisfy the curiosity of their audience.
Even if it’s not a viral video, they will pay for it, as long as it is newsworthy.
You can license exclusive footage of events like plane crashes, natural disasters or celebrity sightings and so on.
You never know when your video may go viral, so it’s important to be prepared.
Set yourself up for this opportunity by updating your YouTube profile with appropriate contact details.
If you have non-viral videos you want to license, you can market them on platforms like Jukin Media.
Other places to look at include SellNews, Newsflare and Video Elephant.
News outlets like the Daily Mail will deal directly with you if your videos are good enough.
Make sure to read the fine print of whatever licensing agreement you sign.
So you don’t shoot yourself in the leg or risk a lawsuit for violation.
7. Crowdfunding or Fan Funding
Crowdfunding is a common way to make money off Youtube.
Many YouTubers solicit donations online to fund channel-related or personal projects.
They can even set up monthly donations and earn continuous revenue. Kickstarter and Indiegogo are best used for one-time projects but Patreon allows monthly donations.
Patreon is specially designed for creatives and is popular among YouTube content creators.
Tipeee and Buy Me A Coffee are also great donation platforms.
To encourage donations, you can offer rewards such as shout-outs to viewers that support you.
A lot of YouTubers reward their support with early access to videos.
They publish the videos as unlisted and share them with their supporters first.
Other common rewards are access to behind-the-scenes footage or exclusive videos.
Sometimes you can even give big rewards like exclusive merch or invites to live events.
8. Sell Online Courses, Consult, Coach, or Speak
If you’re an expert in your niche, using YouTube to educate viewers, you already created an opportunity to make some money.
You can use your expertise to create online courses to teach highly demanded skills in your niche.
Your subscriber base is already made up of folks interested in learning, which makes marketing so much easier.
Graham Stephan, the real estate guru, made about $33,000 a month from two online courses in 2019.
You can organize online workshops, webinars or private live streams that viewers would pay for.
Apart from online courses, you can sell ebooks, printables, templates and other downloadable digital products.
Creating online courses and other digital learning products is not cost-intensive.
With research, you’ll get enough valuable information to add to your personal experiences and create compelling content.
You may need to pay video or book editors.
The platform for hosting your online courses will require payment as well.
But those are not expensive costs.
Coaching and consulting services are also a way to leverage YouTube to earn income. You can simply charge for these services at an hourly rate.
Conclusion
There are many ways to make money on YouTube and you don’t need a million subscribers or the fanciest equipment to begin.
It costs nearly nothing to get your YouTube channel up and running, so capital is not a hindrance.
The important things are that you create quality content and win viewers’ loyalty.
You can receive sizable donations, sell custom merchandise, charge fees for exclusivity and promote brands for a price.