How can you make money from YouTube? As the world’s second largest search engine, YouTube attracts over 1 billion unique users per month, and the revenue potential for content creators on the platform is massive. In fact, PewDiePie (a famous YouTuber) made $12 million in 2016 from advertisements alone. However, making money from YouTube videos isn’t as simple as putting up your first video and waiting for checks to start rolling in.
There are several different ways you can make money on YouTube and most of them take time and effort to establish yourself as an authority in your field.
1) Affiliate Marketing
You may already know that you can make money from your videos, but did you know you can also make money from recommending products on your channel? If so, Affiliate Marketing is for you. First, it’s important to note that affiliate marketing takes time and doesn’t happen overnight.
You need to build up an audience to earn significant income from it. Nevertheless, with a strong email list and enough viewers, you can easily earn a full-time living by promoting products through online channels.
In fact, there are people earning well over $100K per month doing exactly that right now! For more information on how to get started with affiliate marketing (and tips), check out our comprehensive guide here: How To Start An Online Business With Affiliate Marketing Step-By-Step.
2) YouTube Partnerships
Unlike sponsored posts, YouTube has millions of viewers which makes it a really popular platform for generating income on youtube. You can partner with brands and companies to create customized adverts that promote their products and generate revenue.
However, be sure to read up on their Partner Program Policies to ensure you are aware of what is required to join before accepting any offers.
3) Become an Influencer
Entrepreneurs, business owners, and investors in Silicon Valley all say that one of their primary ways to generate income on YouTube is by participating in YouTube MCNs (multi-channel networks).
One of these multi-channel networks can even be started by you. But, first, let’s talk about what an MCN is. An MCN is basically a full service network where smaller creators band together and join forces with advertisers who want to advertise on those channels.
Networks usually have multiple tiers of membership with increased benefits at each level: bronze ($5 per month), silver ($50 per month), gold ($100 per month) and platinum ($1000 per month). These levels give you access to additional benefits such as more analytics, enhanced ad serving services and more reporting options.
4) Collaborations with Brands/Vloggers
If you have a growing audience on YouTube, it’s time to start capitalizing on that by working with brands and vloggers. Now, there are some pretty strict rules around getting paid for reviews and collaborations – if your video or channel looks branded (like an ad) it will be removed from YouTube because of copyright infringement issues.
But if you play your cards right, it’s possible to get paid as a collaborator without causing any problems for yourself down the road. Here are two ways to make money through collaborations:
The Giveaway Method: This is definitely my preferred method for how to generate income from youtube without breaking copyright rules. The giveaway method allows both you and a brand/vlogger team up on a video together.
5) Create your own products
Do you like to make crafts? Or, maybe, you’re a wizard with a camera or videocamera. One way to generate income on YouTube is by creating your own products and selling them through your YouTube channel. (This is also one of my favorite ways!) What kind of products can you create? All kinds! You can create
6) Merchandise
The first way to generate income on YouTube is through merchandise. Most content creators—even big ones like Jenna Marbles, Shane Dawson, and Casey Neistat—make additional money by selling merch for their channel.
If you have a successful YouTube channel, you might already be considering creating and selling your own products. You can always start small with something simple like a T-shirt or wristband that says something funny or relatable.
As your audience grows, consider creating collectibles, apparel (hats are trendy!), mugs, pillows, bags and other high-demand items to sell directly to your fans. Don’t forget to include them in gift packages or at live events!
7) Sponsorships
A lot of people believe sponsorships are only available to established vloggers and bloggers. This isn’t true; in fact, most popular YouTubers started with sponsorships, as they gave them a chance to reach new audiences without having to give up their time-consuming day jobs.
If you can prove you have a decent following—in other words, that your video views are valuable—it’s easy to get started with paid promotion and turn your passion into profit. There are no guarantees, but here’s what you need to know about finding sponsors for YouTube videos.
8) Brand Ambassadorships
This one’s a little more high-level, but it’s still worth thinking about. A brand ambassador is essentially just someone who advocates for a brand—and there are two ways to do it. The first is obvious: If you’re an existing user of a product or service, you can become an ambassador.
Just share your knowledge of the product with your contacts (friends, family members, etc.) and recommend that they purchase or use it as well. The other option is finding brands you’d like to represent; you can apply directly on their websites and talk about your passion for that particular product in a video application. You may even be able to score free stuff in exchange for promoting a company!
9) Tips for Becoming a YouTube Partner
YouTube is a free advertising platform. Once you have your channel up and running, advertise on it! You can choose to put ads on all your videos or just in certain ones. The more viewers you have, and the more frequent your uploads are, will help you earn more money through YouTube.
If you want to start making money right away, AdSense is also a good option for anyone who wants to be paid when people watch ads that they’ve run on their videos or channel.
10) Advertise on your videos
If you’re making videos regularly and have a large enough following, it can be lucrative to run ads during your videos. If you are using YouTube to grow your business, there is a good chance that you have seen many of these types of ads.
What makes YouTube a bit different from most platforms is that you receive payment based on a video’s performance after users watch it. This means that there are no upfront costs associated with starting an advertising campaign on YouTube.
However, there are other costs involved such as creating high-quality graphics for your ad or hiring someone to help you produce your video. Overall, if done correctly advertising on YouTuve can help you generate revenue from day one without having to pay any money upfront.
