Did you know your video content can generate money online? If you’re racking up a substantial number of views, or if your content keeps the attention of viewers for minutes at a time, then you could be cashing in on advertising revenue and more.
At Comrade Digital Marketing, we understand that you want to make and share the best video content possible – and if you want to make some profit using those videos, follow these tips on how to earn money via your YouTube account.
Join a YouTube Partner Program
Everybody can monetize videos on YouTube, as long as you first meet several criteria. To become a member of the YouTube Partner Program, you’ll need to first reach two important milestones.
The first is hitting 1,000 subscribers. This means 1,000 people have clicked the “subscribe” button on your YouTube channel to see your videos in their feed when they login to YouTube on their computer or mobile device.
The second milestone is reaching 4,000 watch hours over the last 12 months. To be clear, this means people have collectively watched 4,000 hours of content on your channel and does not require you to upload videos that total 4,000 hours in playtime.
Once you hit this milestone, you’ll need to make sure that your content is within YouTube’s guidelines. That means producing high-quality content that doesn’t violate copyright rules or terms of service. That’s no problem if you pay attention to publicly available guidelines and general fair use rules but is something you should be conscious of if you want to join youtube’s partner program.
Breaking those rules can ruin your chances of making it as a video creator online. When you break copyright law the actual creator of the content can issue a copyright strike on your channel and your video will be removed. If you get three of them – your own channel will be deleted. If you break general YouTube’s terms of service you may find your multiple videos being demonetized, ad restricted, or even deleted. Video creators need to tow that thin line between copyright and TOS very carefully, but ones that do can find a lot of success online.
So, you did everything right, fulfilled all youtube partner program requirements and your content is within guidelines. Next, if you want to learn “how to monetize my YouTube videos” in terms of ad revenue, memberships, and youtube monetization in general take a look at our list of different ways you can make money from your content.
How to Get Monetized on YouTube: All Your Options
Okay, now let’s look at how to monetize your YouTube videos. Your YouTube channel can have several revenue streams.
Ad Revenue
Ad revenue is the most common way to monetize your YouTube videos. When you become a member of the YouTube Partner Program, you can instantly turn on advertisements for all of your videos that meet the advertiser-friendly content guidelines.
Videos may show advertisements before they play, occasionally during your content, or may appear as a banner over your video as people watch. The amount of ads depends on your video’s length. YouTube algorithm sometimes changes what is considered the optimal length of a video, so you need to pay attention to it. Every ad that appears on your video gives you a 55% cut of the revenue, and the money you make is paid into your Google AdSense account.
Channel Memberships
Channel membership is a more modern feature of YouTube that you may be less familiar with. This feature allows people who love your content to pay a membership fee to access special videos that aren’t available publicly, along with personal livestreams and other extra content.
Don’t neglect the people who pay the additional fee if you want to make money from channel memberships. Be sure to add sufficient extra content and host livestreams to make your members feel special.
To access channel membership, you must first hit 30,000 subscribers on your channel.
Merchandise Shelf
YouTube is a great way to sell official branded merchandise. Whether you set up your traditional merchandise store or use a third-party site that prints and distributes the merch for you, it’s easy to make your ads on YouTube to encourage people to buy your merchandise.
You may also wish to use YouTube’s Merchandise Shelf feature, which works with third-party distributor Teespring. This feature is available for users with over 10,000 subscribers.
Super Chat and Stickers
Super Chats and stickers allow people to donate you money during a live stream. If you frequently do livestreams with your subscribers, then anybody who wants to send you a sticker or a message will be able to do so via Super Chat.
This attaches the tip to a message and makes it easier for you to see it. Be sure to engage with people who send these Super Chats to give people a reason to continue tipping and create a more engaging experience.
Users may tip up to $500 in a Super Chat, and you will keep around 70% of any donation.
Create Sponsored Content
Sponsored content is another popular way of making money on YouTube, and it’s not a feature of the website.
To make sponsored content, you’ll first need to find a company willing to sponsor the videos you publish. The more views you get, the more likely you are to be reached out to by companies willing to pay you money to promote their brands.
Some online services also make it easier to find brands looking for sponsorship opportunities, including BrandConnect.
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is another way of generating revenue that doesn’t involve a specific YouTube feature.
Using a popular crowdfunding platform like Patreon, you can encourage people to sign up to make monthly donations to help you keep producing content. Advertise your crowdfunding page in your content or in the description of your videos to make it easy for people to find you on other platforms.
YouTube Premium Revenue
YouTube Premium is a service available to all YouTube accounts. When people pay for access to YouTube Premium, they pay to do away with ads and access additional features like “background play.”
There are more than 20 million Premium members, and that number is always increasing.
When a member of YouTube Premium watches your content, YouTube will automatically pay you if you are already accepted into the Partner Program.
Become a Brand Affiliate
Finally, becoming a brand affiliate is an increasingly popular way of getting monetized on YouTube.
Joining an affiliate program means finding products that you think your viewers are likely to want to buy and then providing an affiliate link to your viewers and encouraging them to make the purchase. When people purchase products through your affiliate link, you’ll make a percentage of the sale.
Tips for Monetizing Your YouTube Videos
Remember that just because these features are available to you, it doesn’t mean you’ll instantly start making money. The key to being a successful YouTuber and making money from your content is ensuring that every video you put out offers value to your viewers.
People need a reason to continue visiting your page and watching your content.
There are also some things you can do to maximize your ability to generate revenue from YouTube.
These are:
- Only sponsor quality products you genuinely recommend
- Sell quality merch that people want to use
- Be consistent and post regularly
- Listen to your audience and interact as much as you can
- Grow your channel across multiple platforms
- Reward your followers
Remember that asking yourself, “how can I provide the best content for my viewers?” is more important than asking “how to monetize my YouTube videos.” The key is creating quality and engaging content and going from there.
Conclusion
Comrade specializes in digital marketing and working with businesses and creators that make content that people care about, want to see more of, and learn from. We can help your business build its online presence by creating an effective online marketing strategy for your video content.
To learn more about our video marketing services, call our team today at (312) 265 0580 or get in touch online.
