A Beginner's Guide To Monetizing Your YouTube Channel
/Have you been inspired by the success stories of other people who have become rich and famous by making YouTube videos? If so, you may be wondering how to make money on YouTube.
Some people make just a little extra cash from their YouTube channels, but others earn six figures or more. The key is to build an audience by providing them with regular good-quality video content that is helpful for them. There are many different ways to make money on YouTube.
If you are wondering how to make money on YouTube, then here is a beginner's guide to monetizing your YouTube channel. It is important that your YouTube channel follows YouTube monetization policies if you want to monetize your YouTube channel. Also, always keep your audience in mind before trying to monetize your channel because your audience is your currency.
How to get started a YouTube Channel
If you want to start a YouTube channel, you will have to create a YouTube account. Do you have a Gmail account? Then you can use your Google account to set up a YouTube account.
Now you can set up a YouTube channel. First, you need to record a video or two. Then set up your profile by adding a picture, uploading a banner, writing your about section, linking in any website and social media account you have, and creating a trial video.
Once you have set up your YouTube channel, you can start recording videos for your channel. But before you start doing the videos, determine your niche. Who do you want to watch your videos?
You will have to choose a niche you are passionate about and that has the potential to make money. Once you have identified your niche, you can start making videos and posting them to your YouTube channel. But before you post your videos, be sure you have the right equipment to record your videos.
What equipment is needed to start a YouTube Channel?
You may choose to use your iPhone to record videos for your YouTube channel. But if you want to post high-quality videos to your channel regularly, you will want to use a high-quality digital camera and other equipment.
Camera and camera equipment
You can choose to invest in a good quality digital HD camera or a webcam if you do not have one of them already. Try to get a camera that allows you to record at 1080p HD. The quality of your videos will be much higher if you record them with a quality digital HD camera or a webcam than an iPhone.
Camera equipment you may choose to buy include spare camera batteries, SD cards, and hand-held tripods
Microphone
Although microphones generally come with most cameras, you should buy a good quality microphone if you are recording outside for better sound quality.
Video editing software
Unless you want to outsource your video editing work to a freelance video editor, you will need to use some video editing software to edit your videos yourself. There are both paid and free options out there. Adobe Premier, VEGAS and Final Cut Pro are professional video editing software. I use iMovie and Photobooth which are free applications on Apple computers.
Lighting
You may buy some video lighting depending on the lights you need while you record your videos. Lighting and sound are two critical aspects of recording a quality video. I use a Diva Light for most of my videos if the natural light is not enough.
How to monetize your YouTube Channel
Here are the most popular ways to monetize a YouTube channel. The monetization method(s) that will work well for you will depend on your niche and the size of your audience.
The YouTube Partner Program (YPP)
The YouTube Partner Program is a YouTube channel monetization program that allows you to monetize your videos on YouTube from the following ways:
Ads on your videos
YouTube Premium subscribers watching your content
Channel memberships
Super Chats and Super Stickers
Ads can appear before, during, or after your videos play. You can choose which types of ads appear on your videos to make sure they do not put off your viewers. YouTube ads pay you based on the impressions or clicks your video generates whenever someone watches your video. Typically, YPP pays you per 1,000 impressions. You can earn anywhere from a few cents to $20 or more per 1,000 impressions, depending on your channel and audience.
Channel memberships earn you money when paid subscribers get exclusive content. Super Chats and Super Stickers are features that can make you money where viewers can purchase chat messages while you are performing in live chat sessions to pin their comment or message to the top of your hat feed for boosting their visibility.
To join the YPP, you will need to have at least 1,000 subscribers and your videos must have been watched for over 4,000 hours in the last 12 months. You will need a Google AdSense account to be able to monetize your YouTube videos with the YPP monetization method. Be sure to adhere to YouTube's community guidelines and terms of service.
The YPP sends you payments once your balance reaches $100. If you can get hundreds of thousands of views a month, you have the potential to make a decent income from the YouTube Partner Program.
Affiliate marketing
If you have managed to attract a dedicated audience, affiliate marketing can be the best way to monetize your YouTube channel. This is where you promote the products or services of a company or individual through a link, known as an affiliate link, to the company's or individual's website, and if someone buys something clicking through the link, you earn a commission. The commission you earn can be a flat fee or a percentage of the sale.
You do not need to get a lot of views to make money from affiliate marketing. You can make money from affiliate marketing on YouTube videos even if you have a small but dedicated audience.
Sponsorships
If you have managed to attract a large enough audience, you may be able to make money from your videos through sponsorship deals where a brand or company will pay you a set amount of money per video for just mentioning their name or mentioning a product or service. They can also pay you for advertising their product or service in the video introduction.
You may be approached by companies that are willing to pay you for just mentioning their name on your channel. How much you can earn from a sponsorship deal will depend on the niche of your channel, and the size of your audience. You can also contact companies in your niche directly to see if they are interested in sponsorship deals.
While it is great to be sponsored, you want to keep your integrity and audience at the forefront. If you promote a product, service or brand that is not relevant to your audience, or something you don’t believe in, you could lose the trust of your audience. Without their trust, your YouTube channel will not be successful
Donations
Many YouTubers monetize their YouTube channels via donations or crowdfunding. If you provide valuable content through your videos, you can simply ask your viewers for support. You can sign up for sites like Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, etc. that allow your viewers to sign up and donate money to help support your channel.
This monetization method can work well for you if you really offer helpful information that benefits your viewers. Once you have built a bit of a loyal following, you can use sites like these to receive donations from your viewers to help fund your YouTube channel.
Sell your own products
You can promote your own products on YouTube to direct your audience from your YouTube channel to your own online store and make money every time someone buys something.
You can use your YouTube channel to promote products you create or buy for cheap and sell them for a higher price for profit. You do not even need to keep an inventory of your products if your supplier sends your items to Amazon for you.
Whichever way you want to sell your products, your YouTube channel can help increase your sales. Simply make videos about products you sell on your own blog/website or a third-party site/marketplace with helpful information and direct them to your sales page. If you have a loyal audience and the products are related to their needs, they will probably buy your products and services.
How much can you make from YouTube?
You may have heard that many YouTubers earn thousands of dollars every month from their YouTube channels. If you make a video that goes viral, it could earn you a lot of money.
If you want to monetize your videos with YouTube ads, you can make anywhere from $1.50 to $20 or more per 1,000 views, depending on the niche of your channel and the size of your audience.
You can sell your own products from your YouTube videos simply by directing your viewers to your sales page on your own blog, website, or online store, or on a third-party site.
If you have an engaged audience, brands can approach you to offer advertising contracts that involve you promoting a product or service of a brand/company on your channel. Depending on the niche of your channel and how engaged your audience is, you can earn several thousands of dollars per advertising contract.
Tips for monetizing your YouTube channel and increasing your audience
Always keep your audience your priority. If they love what you post, they will come back for more. A loyal audience will be more likely to buy something you recommend to them via your affiliate links or buy your own products that are relevant to their needs.
Identify your niche and make videos about what your target audience wants to see. If you are a health and wellness expert you can make videos about how to boost your energy with natural foods, make easy healthy recipes at home, how to reduce inflammation within the body, how to heal the gut, the best low to no sugar desserts, and much more to provide them with helpful information.
Choose your monetization methods based on what appeals to your audience, and companies or advertisers that want to reach out to your audience. If you create videos talking about healthy recipes, you may monetize your YouTube channel with sponsorships from a brand like Thrive Market or a meal delivery company.
Tips to help you grow your audience and increase your earnings
Do research to pick a specific niche that you are passionate about and is also doing well on YouTube so that you can attract the right type of audience. You can use Google Trends to see how popular your chosen niche is.
Include keyword-rich titles of your videos. Choose the right keywords to describe your videos so that they can rank highly in search results to boost your channel's views.
Create videos that people want to watch. If the content of your videos is not helpful, people will leave your channel after watching a few seconds or minutes and they may not come back for more. Make sure your videos are helpful so that people will benefit from them and will come back for more.
Create and post content regularly, as the frequency that you upload videos has an impact on how well you rank in the search results.
Create high-quality, compelling content to increase your engagement rates which will help you rank better for videos you post to YouTube over time.
Use thumbnails to capture the attention of your target audience on your videos.
In conclusion
As you have seen, you can make money uploading videos of what you enjoy talking over or doing to your YouTube channel. But, earning money on YouTube is not easy, especially if you are new to YouTube. I hope this beginner's guide to monetizing your YouTube channel can help you explore different ways of monetizing your YouTube videos as you create and upload high-quality, helpful videos.
