Last Updated on January 13, 2024
Do you wish to get a new source of income this year? What if you could make money on YouTube from the comfort of your home?
YouTube is the largest video-sharing platform in the world today. There are over 500 hours of uploaded videos per minute and over half a billion videos are being watched every single day.
As a Youtuber, you might be wondering what are the possible ways for you to make money and monetize your channel’s views?
There are several great options for earning an additional income from YouTube, regardless of your channel size. Read along to know more!
How to Make Money On YouTube?
With over 30 million daily users, YouTube is the most famous tool for video sharing and watching.
What is even more interesting is that YouTube earns a total revenue of more than $15 billion every year. However, the application shares its profits with the workers behind it – the video creators.
So, making money is as simple as uploading a video and sharing it with the world.
That said, you must know that although this source of income is relatively easier, it’s not the easiest. But the good news is, you do not have to be a big celebrity or influencer with millions of subscribers.
Let’s take a detailed look at the top 8 ways to make money on YouTube this year:
1. Make Money from Ads
Even if your YouTube channel is not very big, you can still earn revenue through ads.
All you need to do is signup for the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). With the help of this program, you can get money for every ad watched by your viewers before or in between your video. Moreover, YouTube will also give you access to Creator Supporter Teams and Copyright Match Tool. Sounds exciting?
To get access to the YPP, you will have to complete some prerequisites:
- Valid, public videos with a minimum of 4000 watch hours, in the last 12 months.
- Adhere to YouTube monetization policies
- Minimum of 1000 subscribers
- Live in an area where the YPP is available
- AdSense Account to receive payments
Once you complete all the mentioned steps, your request will be under review by the Youtube team for double-checking of all the requirements. That is not all. You will also get access to many more revenue streams such as Super Chat, YouTube Premium, Channel Memberships, and Merchandise Shelf.
2. Sell Merchandise and Customized Products
What if you could sell customized merchandise directly to your fans? Not only will they connect more to your channel, but you will also earn a good income on sales. Nevertheless, you must meet the eligibility criteria of having 10,000 subscribers or more, along with being a YPP member.
Key example:
Let us take the example of Jessica Bravura, known as Aphmau, on the Internet. She is a famous American YouTuber who took her business to the next level through the merch shelf on YouTube. Aphmau created a Teespring ID and linked it to her YouTube channel all through the Monetization tab. This tab is visible once you go to YouTube Studio on the application.
3. Promote Affiliate Links
You must have seen various YouTubers talk about the products they have benefited from. Usually, they are actually promoting that product at the same time by using affiliate links in the description box.
In order to do so yourself, you first need to join an affiliate program of a product/service that is relevant to your audience. There are hundreds of different affiliate programs you can choose from.
After joining an affiliate program (or even a few of them), mention the links of your chosen product in the description box below your video.
How does it work? You will earn a commission on every product sold through that link.
Key example: Unbox Therapy is a famous YouTube channel that talks about the latest technology and gadgets. The host, Lewis George Hilsentege, talks and promotes new electronic gadgets on his videos. He also mentions the links to buy these gadgets in the description box.
Those links are affiliate links from Amazon’s affiliate program, called Amazon Associates. They reward you between 1 to 10% of the product’s cost in affiliate commissions. You can see an example over here.
You can only imagine how much commission this Canadian channel might be earning by promoting Apple’s iPhone Zee Core!
4. Get Your Followers to Support You
If you provide valuable, engaging content through your YouTube channel, your probably have a loyal core following. Taking this love to the next level, you can ask your followers to support you directly. It can be done through YouTube’s Super Chat, Premium, and Channel Memberships.
If you have 1000 subscribers or more and are a YouTube partner, you can use Super Chat. Through this feature, your fans can donate money during live streams. Irrespective of whether the donation is small or big, it will eventually turn out to be a large amount. Viewers can also get their comments pinned as stickers by paying during the live stream.
- Channel Membership
Like Philip Defranco in the image above, you can ask viewers to buy the membership of your channel. But would they do that?
With your channel membership, your fans can get access to exclusive features. They can have access to loyalty badges, stickers in comments, custom emojis, and much more. The most important—your fans will get closer to you.
- YouTube Premium
Asking your fans to subscribe to YouTube premium can be helpful for you but indirectly. You will get a small commission every time a prime member watches your video.
5. Join an Influencer Program
Famous brands like Shein and service leaders like Amazon offer various influencer programs for higher publicity.
All you need to do is recommend the particular brand’s products and provide affiliate links. You will get commission for every product purchased through your link.
Key example: Lucy Ledgeway is a fashion influencer on YouTube and Instagram.
Taking up the Shein Influencer program, Lucy promotes various merchandise of their products on her channel. This way, she not only gets paid for every merch purchased through her link but also get several Shein clothes for free.
What’s more? Her viewers get an extra discount by using her code, enabling even more purchases.
6. Crowdfunding is not Extra
Do you want to obtain funds for your next video or a project that you are working on? Just tell your viewers about it and see the amount of love they shower. There are multiple websites through which you can raise funds. Create a video explaining your project and give a sneak-peak to get your followers excited.
Key example: Brent Aureli, a YouTuber, asks for his fans to support his work. He uploads multiple useful tutorials for free. Here, he uses Patreon as a website to obtain funds and promotes it through YouTube. Brent explains the idea behind his upcoming project, asking his fans to pitch in.
7. Sell Your Content to the Media
Did you know that media channels could pay you to stream your videos? If you have a video that is a sensation on the Internet, you might as well get paid for it.
Key example: What Up With the Wesson’s is a YouTube channel of the Wesson family. The video of this father-daughter was one of the top viral videos of the year. Media outlets like news channels, morning shows, online news sites, etc. reached out to the Wesson’s for the rights for this video.
8. Connect with Your Followers Offline
How about meeting your online community? What if you could meet them and also earn? You can host events, meet-ups, or classes regarding your topic of interest. Host a drawing class and sell books, set up a stall to sell your products, and much more. If your followers are already aware of it, they would appear in crowds at your event.
Key example: Here’s Derral Eves, a YouTuber with over 599k subscribers. Derral offered his fans to meet up with him and get in-person training. Through every event that he hosted, he not only got paid for the training but also marketed his brand. This way, Derral earned extra money as well as followers.
Final Thoughts
Overall, YouTube can be a superb option for your next side gig.
All you need to do is come up with a YouTube name idea to your channel, and provide valuable content to your viewers.
To further increase your reach, you can try to improve your SEO ranking and also know your audience. You can start writing engaging blogs to promote your videos.
What’s the best option to make money on YouTube? The answer depends on you and your content. With a plethora of earning options on YouTube, getting extra income has become not only easy but also highly entertaining. You can create videos on recipes, software information, gadgets, merchandise. The list is endless.
Give your best in the video, projecting what you are best at for an extra income. After all, never do something you’re good at for free!
Further Reading: Want to get some help in choosing the right niche for your Youtube channel? Read our Highest paying Youtube niches research.
