For many, turning YouTube into a legitimate career-building platform is a dream. After all, YouTube influencers appear to have a great life and the adoration of their followers to bask in. While starting a YouTube channel is easier than ever, making money producing YouTube videos isn’t as straightforward as one might think.

With an exceptional strategy and pure dedication, you may earn your first hundred dollars by selling something or promoting an affiliate link. However, to maximize earnings you need to understand all your options before you dive in.

Some folks have turned YouTube into a viable option simply by uploading video content in the hopes of acquiring a healthy following. If you’re wondering how to start a YouTube channel and make money online, below you’ll find our list of suggestions and shortcuts that will help you do just that. Keep reading to learn more about YouTube ad money, monetization, YouTube channel earnings, etc.

Why Choose YouTube?

As you probably know, YouTube isn’t the only option when it comes to publishing videos online. But definitely, it is a primary platform for watching videos online two billion people use every day. With vlogs ranging from cats to kids to tech reviews and cooking tips, YouTube has been in the game since 2005, with improvements being made continuously.

Here’s a number of reasons why YouTube is the best video sharing platform for your videos:

  • Since Google owns YouTube you can’t bypass the fact it will directly affect the rankings of your video. As you know Google is the king of search engines. Thus, you can boost your exposure and attract thousands of followers merely by uploading great videos on YouTube.
  • Millions of viewers use YouTube every day. If you’re an influencer, you need all those folks, and YouTube is known to always stay a few steps ahead in terms of hosting videos.
  • Free marketing: Everyone loves freebies. Once you start uploading videos on YouTube, you’ll see how easy it is to add links to the video descriptions and generate more revenue through affiliate links.

If this sounds good to you, are you ready to start a YouTube channel and make money?

If yes, head over to YouTube.com, sign in to your Google account, and voila! You now have your official YouTube channel.

All right, since we’ve got this out of the way, what are the ways to make money on YouTube? To answer that, you first need to understand what makes a successful YouTube influencer.

Make Your YouTube Channel Look Professional

First of all, to become successful on YouTube and make money from it you need your channel itself to look amazing. Make your channel look visually appealing so that the users will stick around and see more of your videos. It should visually catch the eyes of your potential subscribers. Make sure your logo, channel art, channel layout, channel trailer, subscribers count, and channel recommendation look incredible.

While there is more than one way to make some decent money on the platform, if you’re solely relying upon advertising dollars, chances are you will fail in creating a great channel. For every million views, on average, an influencer only receives maybe a couple of thousand dollars—if they’re lucky. And that assumes that you can get millions of views on YouTube. As most YouTube experts will tell you, this is quite an overwhelming task.

Below you’ll find a few of the ways in which you can in fact monetize your YouTube account. Some you may have heard of and some may be new to you. All of them though might just help you to actually make your YouTube channel profitable.

Can You Make Money on YouTube?

In a nutshell, yes you can. Thousands of people are already doing it. However, your niche, the level of engagement you generate, and the revenue streams, make a huge impact on your earning potential. And don’t forget about subscribers and views – the life-blood of any channel. Now let’s check out our easy tips to get more views on YouTube and make money from it.

How to Make Money From YouTube: Think Outside the Box

Hopefully, by now you understand that there are a variety of different ways that you can start earning on YouTube. While there is no magic formula to create wealth, it takes time, patience, and creativity to build a channel and benefit from it. If you are entering the YouTube world and you want to get more views, it’s highly recommended you consider covering content that fits within one of the following profitable niches:

  1. Gaming;
  2. Lifehacks;
  3. Celebrity gossip;
  4. Top lists;
  5. Compilations of fails;
  6. Food reviews and kitchen hacks;
  7. Product unwrapping and opening (especially when kids do product reviews);
  8. How-to demonstrations;
  9. Animal activities (funny things your pets do);
  10. Spoofs.

If you’re seriously considering getting into YouTube to make money, here’s a look at some of the popular YouTube income streams available:

1. Become a YouTube Partner

To start with, it’s essential that you’re aware of the YouTube partner program and how it works. The program gives access to exclusives and other opportunities non-partners don’t get. YouTube partnership allows you to monetize your videos as soon as your YouTube channel has 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 public views. It must also be reviewed to join the Partner program. That said, YouTube content creators won’t be able to generate any revenue until you’ve hit these numbers. To do that, keep creating content and increasing your channel’s reach.

How to enable Monetization on YouTube:

  1. Log in to the YouTube account you want to monetize;
  2. Click YouTube Studio once you opened your account’s icon in the top right corner;
  3. Choose Other Features > Monetization from the left-hand menu;
  4. Familiarize yourself with the terms of the partnership program and click agree;
  5. If you have an existing AdSense account connect it with your channel;
  6. Set up your monetization preferences.

Once it is done, go back to the dashboard and open the Analytics tab on the left. Then, select Revenue from the top and then scroll down until you see your Monthly Estimated Revenue. It will give you an idea of your projected monthly revenue.

2. YouTube Premium

Do you want to develop an additional revenue stream on YouTube? If yes, YouTube Premium is something you should consider.

This is a paid membership service that enables users to play ad-free videos. Channel owners don’t have to do anything, as they’ll automatically get a second revenue stream when YouTube Premium members watch their videos. Folks with Premium accounts also have the perk of downloading and watching their videos offline and playing them in the background. This eventually contributes to your watch time.

3. Channel Memberships

When your YouTube channel gets more than 30k subscribers, you can start offering a membership package for your fans. Channel memberships include perks like early access to videos, members-only live chat, exclusive emojis, and special members-only badges. In fact, this also is a great way to get a YouTube creator’s attention. Mention this feature in your videos to remind people that they can become an exclusive member by clicking the “Join” button

4. Promote Related Products

Creating promotional video content can be a great way to generate some extra revenue. Brands are well aware of the potential which YouTube channels with a large following have, and they’re always eager to find new revenue streams through new audiences. Once you’ve garnered a substantial following on YouTube, brands will likely start reaching you out and requesting you to promote their products in exchange for money. Sounds great? But be careful, though. Only go along with the products that you’re genuinely interested in, and you think that will be valuable for your audience too. That’ll keep your audience engaged.

5. Super Chat

Super Chats are a creative way to make money online and connect with your audience. When someone hosts a live stream or schedule a video premiere, the feature lets viewers buy chat messages that stand out and pin them to the top of the comments section. Monetary donations can range anywhere from $1 to $500. Not bad, huh?

If your audience wants to donate there is a cash symbol in the chat window. They should click it to open up a slider, then they can decide on the amount they’d like to send the creator. The more your viewers pay, the longer the comment gets pinned to the top. To help live streamers notice the paid comment, these are usually highlighted in different colors. To make money from this feature promote live streams on other social media platforms, and anywhere else where your audience loves hanging out.

6. Promote And Sell Your Own Products

YouTube is nearly a pure opportunity when it comes to selling your own stuff. Even if you’re already running an eCommerce business, you can create an additional revenue stream by promoting your products on your channel. Use your videos and their descriptions to create appealing captions and generate more traffic to your landing page.

Keep in mind, YouTube is the second most widely searched platform on the planet after Google. Why not take an advantage of this fact? Even if you don’t have your own online store yet, you can use Shopify to sell goods like t-shirts, cosmetics, handcrafted items, to name a few. Once you’ve got your store up and running, start promoting products related to your niche and subject.

7. Make Money with Affiliate Marketing

It doesn’t matter whether you run a lifestyle vlog or make book-related videos, anyone can get into affiliate programs. As you probably know, signing up for an affiliate program means you basically promote other people’s products, and in return, if the conversion occurs and a user takes the required action, you get a cut of the profit — so it’s a wholly commission-based endeavor.

Although similar to getting a sponsorship getting into an affiliate program is usually way easier. For example, sign up for any affiliate program, and you’ll get a referral link your followers can use to purchase the product or service. Each time someone follows the link to purchase something from that brand, you’ll get a commission. Of course, you’ll want to promote your link in your video or the description, share it on other social media.

With more and more people turning to video over just a flat page of writing, running your own channel is an excellent opportunity for making money with affiliate marketing. But bear in mind you only have a little time to dazzle your viewers. Create a video that stands out, offers something different that gets them to actually take a second or even third look. The more creative your YouTube video is, the more apt you are to get subscribers to follow the link to whatever product you’re trying to promote — and potentially more YouTube money.

If you are an active and inspiring YouTube influencer, you can benefit from platforms such as ConvertSocial. With ConvertSocial you have the possibility to create affiliate links in browser Extension or with the use of Telegram Bot. You can share the affiliate links generated with these tools in your YouTube description box or on Instagram. For every click on your affiliate links, you will be compensated by ConvertSocial.

How to Make Money on YouTube: The Most Effective Strategies

If you’ve been wondering how to make money on YouTube, there are several strategies you can utilize and keep in mind when creating content.

1. Upload Videos Longer than 10 minutes

Clearly, longer videos have a higher watch time, hence have a higher chance of generating more money through ad revenue. Videos that are longer than 10 minutes with a higher average watch time will appear higher up in YouTube’s search results. This means there’s a higher chance of finding your content by your target audience.

2. Collaborate With Other Influencers

One strategy that you can use to make money from YouTube videos is to collaborate with other influencers. This is an effective way to grow your YouTube presence, add unique content to your channel, and open up your content to a new audience. Do some research on influencers who are active in your niche and reach out to them with video collab ideas that rock — they’ll more than likely be interested in accepting your offer.

3. Create Engaging and Informative Content

It goes without saying that engaging content is the cornerstone of any YouTube marketing strategy. People are constantly searching for something (whether it’s fun or educative content) using YouTube and discovering videos relating to these topics. If you can create video content that satisfies user intent and give them value, they’ll be likely to watch the entire video, and come back for more in the future.

If you’re serious about making money on YouTube dive into the analytics section to see which demographic is paying more attention to your videos. Doing so will give you a clear picture of what type of content to develop. For example, if you know that your videos are more popular with female users, you can create videos catering to this specific audience.

4. Write the Best YouTube Descriptions

Descriptions are important because they help users discover your content and decide whether to watch or skip it. The more you understand how to write great YouTube descriptions, the more likely your video will show up in the search results. When writing descriptions for your videos, try to mention the most obvious things first, then work towards the less important ones. Provide in-depth information about what your video is about, state their pain points (to make users want to click your link!). Finally, speak the same language as your audience for improved messaging understand and relate to.

5. Posting Consistently is Key to YouTube

Perhaps, you already know it but it’s worth repeating here, though, consistently posting new content on YouTube allows you to get in front of users more often. When you maintain content marketing editorial calendars you can expect viewers to remain engaged with your channel. This also means your followers will be much more aware of your online presence, and the properties attached to it, like your eCommerce business.

How to Make Money on YouTube Without Recording Videos

If you’re looking for ways to earn money on YouTube without creating your own videos then you should create compilation videos. Put together a YouTube compilation of videos in a certain niche (gaming, funny clips, top 10, music… etc.) and post them consistently. These videos are really popular and they get a lot of views. However, make sure these videos fall under the “Creative Commons license” that enables you to re-publish people’s content on your channel and make money from them.

How to Make Money on YouTube Despite the Competition

When you’re researching how to monetize your YouTube account, it’s good to know that you won’t be competing solely with other webmasters for traffic and revenue. There are also full-time influencers who are doing their best to capture your audience’s attention. To stand out from the crowd you need to write video thumbnails that entice viewers and keep them coming back. YouTube is also a highly visual platform and the better your visual content is, the more likely you draw in more users to view your videos.

The audio and video quality of your videos is just as important as your content. You’ll want to portray your business in a positive, professional light, so the quality of your videos will need to be high-quality. You can also beat the competition by using cameras that shot 4K or even 8K videos.

Frequently Asked Questions About Earning Money from YouTube

When do you start making money on YouTube?

You can start earning on YouTube as soon as you’re accepted into the Partner Program. Before that, you can try adding affiliate links to your descriptions and go along with producing good content. You can start making money on YouTube the same day you create an account by promoting your items in an eCommerce store. However, you’ll need to spread the word beforehand so that users are aware you’ll be showcasing your products and promoting links through your videos.

That’s a Wrap

There are several ways to monetize your YouTube account. The tried and tested ways are:

  1. Join the YouTube Partner Program to generate ad revenue;
  2. Add affiliate links to your descriptions;
  3. Sell channel memberships to your audience;
  4. Sell channel memberships to your audience;
  5. Create promotional videos for businesses;
  6. Earn money through the Super Chat feature.

 Are you making money on YouTube? What monetization method works best for you? Let us know in the comments section below.