How to Make Money on YouTube

This is not a quick, and it’s actually not as easy as it may appear to be, but if you’re creative and have an interesting message that can be shared, you’ll be able to learn different ways to earn money by making YouTube videos.

We’ve all heard about the success rate of YouTube content creators who are making millions of dollars just by sharing videos.

For example, in 2019, Ryan Kaji earned $26 million when he was 8 years old by using his YouTube channel to review toys. Actors like Rachel Bloom and Darren Criss were lucky enough to rise to fame from being YouTube stars to TV and movies.

If you’re good at explaining things to and audience, conducting in-person interviews or enjoy being in front of the camera, consider starting a YouTube channel. Making YouTube videos is one of the easiest ways for you to make cash. However, it’s not a quick venture, and it’s definitely as simple as it appears to be.

If you’re looking for something that will help you earn some money within a week, there are several other ventures you can opt for. However, if you’re creative and have a message that can be shared if the form of an interesting video, learn how to use YouTube to make money.

Suitable Topics You Can Use to Earn Money on YouTube

The first step when you want to start a YouTube channel is to find a suitable topic depending on the kind of videos you’re planning to produce. Choose something you’ll be comfortable talking about, and there are different popular topics that have easy entry points and you can use to make videos with.

Product Reviews

If you’re an expert at a given topic and can assess products objectively, you can use this popular method to help you make videos. This can be used for a wide range of products such as eyeshadow palettes, digital cameras or dog toys.

The important thing is to choose something that belongs to the same niche and stick to it. If you decide to review educational children’s games during the first week and a book on the following week, there’s a high chance you won’t build enough following to help you make money.

Tutorials

Tutorial are another popular method you can use to help people with your expertise. You can do this by guiding your audience through some common issues such as how to curl hair, cook a roast, sew a button or do taxes. Nowadays people rely on YouTube tutorials for easy to very complex DIY projects.

Create a list with your credentials, skills and interests to help you figure out the type of tutorials and ho-to videos you’ll be able to make.

Vlogging

If the stories you’re telling are interesting enough, include exciting experiences or are known to be able to converse about mundane observations, you may want to start a vlog. Instead of recording your thoughts by writing them down, you’ll instead record and share the information with your followers. This is the most suitable way to earn money using your everyday life.

How to Setup a YouTube Channel and Making Money

You can easily start your own YouTube channel, but it can be quite difficult to build a devoted following and making videos.

Step 1: Create Your YouTube Channel

You’ll be able to make a YouTube channel without difficulty, all you need to do is login to YouTube and click on the “Create Channel” option that is found below your profile picture. You’ll then find yourself on the Channel dashboard that has different tools and tutorials required to make, upload and share videos.

An email address is required, providing you with two options. You can use your personal email to create a channel separately, or you can use a separate email address for your channel only. You can decide to use separate accounts to avoid mixing up information in your personal account and business accounts.

Don’t forget to provide all the information needed in your profile, this includes the About section. Use a catchy image for your channel header, and ensure that it’s suitable for both your web browser and mobile phone versions.

Step 2: Decide on a Strategy

You can create random videos with different topics which don’t actually relate to each other. However, if you’re planning to make some cash on YouTube, you’ll need to use a certain strategy.

“In my opinion, the quantity and ensuring that the content you create is interesting to your audience,” said Joseph Hogue, the owner of the Let’s Talk Money, YouTube channel. “My target was to create only one video each week, but if you’re looking to grow your channel quickly, you’ll need to produce at least two videos per week.” Hogue suggests that you have a schedule for the time and day you wish to post your videos. Once your schedule is set and you’re comfortable with it, here are some factors you need to consider:

How many videos can you create per month?
On which day and time are you planning to post them?
Which words will you use as the description for your videos?
Are you going to include information about your personal life or is the content more formal?
Which video thumbnails are you going to use?
How will you come up with the topics for your videos?

To make your work easy when coming up with the right strategy for your work, take a look at some of the popular YouTube channels belonging to the same niche as you. Don’t copy everything you see, but use them to inspire your work. If you discover that most channels are using the same type of elements, this is a clue that you need to follow suit.

Step 3: Find a Suitable Way to Create and Upload Your Videos

If you want a simple and streamlined procedure, make sure to come up with a method or system that’s suitable for your videos.

Most successful content creators on YouTube recommend that you shoot a couple of videos at once and then process them in batches. This will enable you to handle most of the work in a single session and schedule to release them in advance.

There are also other things you can use such as step-to-step checklists to help you streamline the procedure further. TubeBuddy is one of the popular tools that has this feature and it also has a useful resource for keyword research. If you want to finish editing your videos within a short time, learn about keyboard shortcuts on your computer. As your channel and income grow, you can hire the services of a virtual assistant or editor to handle these tasks for you.

The most important thing is to develop a system that you’re comfortable with and you can use to run on autopilot. This lets you have enough time to create more engaging videos, write your scripts and be able to take care of other strategic plans.

Step 4: Adapt and Revise

Spare some time to go through the work you’ve been doing and assess whether you managed to accomplish your goals. Check your analytics to confirm if you’ve been reaching out the right audience, the number of views you have, the topics that connect and those that don’t and the other important metrics required for your channel’s performance. If the methods you were applying before aren’t working, you may want to discontinue them and change things.

You can also learn a lot by becoming a member of a community of YouTube creators, especially if they are of the same niche as you. They will give you feedback about your content, and you’ll also be able to ask them questions so that you can find out what works well for other people. You’ll also know the kind of programs and systems they use and they can give you pointers for promotional strategies. This is also a great way to interact with other YouTube content creators, so you can learn and grow your channels.

Ways to Make Money Using Your YouTube Channel

There are different methods you can use to make money using your YouTube channel, especially if you have enough followers.

AdSense

AdSense is the most commonly used method for earning money on YouTube. However, you’ll have to accomplish two important milestones before you’re able to include ads to your YouTube videos:

Have up to 1,000 subscribers
Your videos need to have at least 4,000 hours’ worth of watch time within the past 12 months

Since there are strict requirements put in place, a lot of people view ads as a supplement method and not the primary means of earning money on YouTube.

“The rates for ads (CPM) are quite low,” says Sarah Wilson, the owner of Budget Girl. CPM means Cost Per Mile, or the rate paid by advertisers so that they can display their ads top at least 1,000 viewers. “We are not being paid enough money. YouTubers are prohibited to share their CPM, but I make sure I track mine and can assure you that it has been very low this year compared to previous years.”

This is why you shouldn’t rely on YouTube as your only source of income. You’ll always be at the whim of YouTube. Ensure that you diversify your sources of income by creating a blog or inventing personalized products.

Brand Sponsorships and Partnerships

Ads are the most effective means to make passive income, but YouTubers rely on brand partnerships to make money.

Be careful when applying this method. Although it’s quite lucrative, you won’t be able to sell or advertise products that your audience isn’t familiar with. If you push the agenda, you won’t be able to maintain their trust.

“Don’t just jump at any partnership that comes your way,” says Wilson. “It doesn’t matter how successful the company is, it won’t boost your brand. So, use the right methods and be ready to conduct your own research about the company’s operations. Also, if they mistreat one of your followers, be ready to handle the situation.”

Create a list of the companies that would like to pay you to advertise and contact them. If you managed to make videos about their products, make sure you show them the kind of content you can create for them.

Affiliate Marketing

When it comes to affiliate marketing, you’re still required to feature products from other companies in the videos you create, but instead of getting paid a flat fee, you’ll have to attach a referral link to descriptions in your videos. You’ll get paid a commission for every customer who buys the products using your referral link.

“I make a point to mention [affiliates] when it naturally flows with the topic I’m covering,” Hogue said. You can also decide to refine the strategy you use for affiliate marketing. this is one of the strategies Hogue is experimenting with.

“I create a series of two to three videos whose topic naturally flows with an affiliate,” he said. “I then make an email series and lead magnet so that my followers get hooked in, watch every video I post and get the emails.”

Select a product or service that you’ve used in the past and was good for you which you feel your followers will love. You can then think about different ways to make new content about the same product.

Sell Personalized Products and Services

If you’re familiar with creating eBooks, courses and other products, remember to talk about them in your videos because it can help bring traffic to your channel. Don’t forget to include a link on the video description so that your audience can get it without difficulty.

If you decide to take this route, make sure that you don’t oversell your products. The process should seem like a natural recommendation that you’re providing to your audience.

Ask Your Followers for Support

You can also make cash on YouTube by asking for financial support from your fans using services such as Patreon. This method works well for some niches and doesn’t for others. For instance, support from fans is a commonly used method by gamers to make money. However, it may not be as effective for somebody who has a personal finance channel.

“This isn’t one of the places I invest money on, so it wouldn’t feel right to ask for assistance from my followers especially since I’m advising them on the right ways to cut costs,” said Wilson. “I would feel good knowing that my followers support me enough to want to pay a monthly fee as a way of rooting for me. However, I won’t be able to ask for it.”

Earning money on Patreon is a method used by most YouTubers, but you’ll only be able to ask for assistance after you have created enough valuable content.

Are You the Next YouTube Millionaire?

Earning one million dollars from YouTube isn’t an easy task to accomplish. Regardless of whether you’re a serious person, you can use YouTube to build a brand and persona that will also be helpful to your coaching business, blog or course.

You can also use this opportunity to challenge yourself, learn new skills and earn some cash off your hobby. If you’re eager to learn, patient, persistent and passionate about making videos, this can be the ideal side hustle. With enough hard work, you can transform the venture into a full-time profession.

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