10 Ways to Make Money From a YouTube Channel
How to make money while waiting to get monetized
As the number of channels grows every day, it’s become harder and harder to stand out from the crowd and make money from your videos.
But don’t give up! With the right approach, you can not only succeed but also make money from your channel that will allow you to quit your day job and focus on YouTube full-time.
Here are 10 ways to make money from a YouTube channel in 2022 that anyone can use to build their online presence, earn an income, and find success with their video content.
Monetizing Channels
Monetizing channels means turning your YouTube audience into paying customers.
YouTubers make money from their videos in 3 main ways: through YouTube ads, through their websites, and affiliate marketing on other sites.
Making money from a YouTube channel means you’re tapping into one of these opportunities or all three! Here are some tips for getting started.
Make a good video and keep making them. Before you can monetize your YouTube channel, you need to have an audience who will want to buy whatever it is you’re selling.
That might sound obvious, but too many people focus only on making money instead of producing quality content.
Even if your goal is just to earn some extra cash with an occasional affiliate sale or two week trial membership site, start by making great content that keeps people coming back for more. And then keep doing it over and over again.
Making Animated Videos
If you’re looking for an easy way to diversify your income streams, consider making animated videos for platforms like Your-Face or JibJab.
These platforms allow users to add motion and sound effects to their photos, making them more entertaining than simple photo blogs. And these websites pay you per view and custom design, meaning that your income is closely tied to how engaging your content is.
Some users have reported earning more than $100 in a month on JibJab by creating customized animated videos.
If you don’t feel comfortable sharing more risqué content on sites like Your-Face, JibJab offers plenty of options for comedic shorts as well — where again you’ll make money per view.
Selling Merchandise
A lot of people put a lot of time and effort into creating unique video content, which they then give away for free. If you have lots of fans, that’s great news.
You can set up an online store through PayPal or SquareSpace and begin selling shirts, hats, mugs, or anything else you think your fans might like.
These sales will help pay your costs and make you money on top of it all.
And if you want an easy way to sell merchandise directly from YouTube (or other social media sites), check out Teespring. Teespring is different from Merch by Amazon in that there are no upfront costs — just set your sale price and wait for orders to come in.
Sponsorship Programs
Sponsorships are an easy and relatively low-risk way for YouTubers to make money from their videos.
There are two kinds of sponsorship programs available: one that pays content creators every time someone watches or interacts with one of their videos, and another where sponsors pay YouTubers in advance.
The former is probably easier to get started with (and potentially more lucrative), while sponsorships, where YouTubers get paid ahead of time, tend to have stricter requirements.
In either case, it’s important for sponsored videos — as well as all other YouTube content, to disclose that it’s sponsored, lest viewers accuse YouTubers of trying to pull a fast one.
Working with Brands
Leverage your brand and audience by collaborating with popular brands and companies. Before you begin working with brands, it’s important to understand what type of sponsorship is right for you and how best to represent them as an influencer.
There are three major ways you can capitalize on sponsorship:
Revenue sharing
Endorsement deals
Affiliate Marketing
Influencer Marketing
Using social media to build an audience for your business is smart and easy. But, if you want something free, try building relationships with people who already have followers in your niche. Chances are good that if they like your product or service, their audience will too.
Start by creating a list of influencers in your niche. Then, start interacting with them on Twitter and Facebook so they get used to seeing you online and recognize your name when you reach out about partnership opportunities later on.
Starting an Affiliate Program
Want to get in on that sweet YouTube ad revenue? One of your first orders of business should be setting up an affiliate program. This way, you can share some of your revenue with those who talk about and promote your videos.
It’s also a great way to get involved with other creators because it means that when they make money, you do too.
More importantly, you want to set things up so that when people purchase products after clicking through your video links or channel pages, they go through a third-party link (instead of directly through AdSense).
This makes sure they don’t accidentally trigger duplicate payments (hey, it happens) and helps keep Google happy.
Encouraging Subscribers to Buy Things They Like
The most common way of monetizing your channel is through adverts. But that doesn’t have to be all you do. A lot of people make money from their products and affiliate links.
Look for companies who are interested in your area and products you recommend, then just add links from your videos. They’ll pay you every time someone buys something after following one of those links.
It can take quite some time, but eventually, it adds up and becomes your main source of income, especially if you’re consistent about it. And don’t forget, once you get enough subscribers, some people will pay for shout-outs in their videos.
Become an Affiliate for Other People’s Products
Affiliate marketing isn’t just for bloggers, YouTube stars, and podcasters. If you don’t have that audience yet, you can still get in on it by doing what lots of content creators do: Use affiliate links for products you mention on your site or channel.
If your channel has enough subscribers, you can also make money through sponsorships (that is, if brands will give them to you).
Typically, rates run about 10% for affiliates and 5% for sponsorships.
You won’t always be able to find an affiliate product match-up; sometimes brands will require that you pay a fee upfront before they’ll let you post their product information on your site or video.
Getting Paid For YouTube Videos
Though it may seem daunting at first, setting up ads on your videos is very easy. Before you start uploading your videos, Google has a simple tutorial to help you through each step.
You can earn money from ads on your videos in two ways: pre-roll and post-roll. Pre-roll ads play before your video starts while post-roll ads play after your video ends.
One key difference between these two types of ads is the payment rate, which is how much advertisers will pay you per view or click.
Advertisers tend to pay more for pre-rolls than they do for post-rolls because viewers are more engaged with the content and likely to watch an ad that’s right in front of their face versus one that pops up after they’ve finished watching something.
Final Thoughts
Starting and growing a YouTube channel can be quite profitable; with over 1 billion users, there’s no question that it’s popular. But it’s also important to note that not everyone is going to become an internet celebrity with subscribers in the tens of millions.
Most people don’t want to be on camera at all, they simply want more views, higher engagement, and (maybe) more sales of their products. Hope this gives you some inspiration.
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