On the surface, making money on YouTube looks easy, doesn’t it? In truth, you’ll find that many of the most popular YouTubers are just making it look like a walk in the park but behind the scenes there are many moving parts to the uploading process. If you’re smart about it you could be driving that lambo in a few years. So how do YouTubers make money? Let’s find out.
YouTube Partner Program
Like many online streaming and video platforms, YouTube comes with it’s own partner program (The YPP). This program offers creators the opportunity to monetise their content on YouTube, potentially allowing you to make a hefty paycheque. You can’t just waltz straight in and start claiming though, there’s quite a bit of groundwork to be done before you’re eligible.
Channels must have at least 1k subscribers and either 4k watch hours in the past year or 10 million Shorts views in the past 90 days. The Shorts goal sounds crazy but like TikTok, if one of these videos goes viral you’re going to be hitting some big reach numbers. Once your AdSense account is set up and YouTube has accepted you into the YPP, creators can earn money through ad revenue, channel memberships, Super Chat and Super Stickers and YouTube Premium revenue. As you can see, even with the base options there are many ways to start earning those bucks.
Affiliate Links
Affiliate links on YouTube allow creators to earn commissions by promoting products or services. These links usually relate to your video content and are implemented as something you might think your audience might be interested in. Be selective with your links and never use them to spam your audience. These unique URLs track traffic and sales generated by you, the creator. When viewers click on these links and make a purchase, you will earn a commission. Creators typically place affiliate links in video descriptions, pinned comments, or use YouTube features like annotations and cards to add clickable links within the video (see image below).
Don’t just apply these links and leave them to sit dormant under your video, shout about them. It’s great to mention these links out loud, directing viewers to these potential great deals. The benefits of affiliate links include additional revenue, enhanced trust and engagement with the audience, and flexibility, as even smaller channels can participate. Best practices include being transparent about affiliate links, promoting relevant products, and integrating them naturally into your high-quality content. By doing so, you can monetise your content while providing value to your viewers.
Drive Traffic
From a business perspective, using YouTube as a way of driving traffic to your website is something which is criminally underused. The time VS reward is well worth it and it’s something we recommend to a lot of our clients who want to head into the YouTube realm.
Driving traffic to your website using YouTube involves creating engaging content that provides value to your audience and customers, optimising your videos with relevant keywords, and using compelling thumbnails. If your website is blog-heavy you could even consider turning those blogs into videos. This is a style which our YouTube client Coffee Kev uses to much effect. Try to Include links to your website in video descriptions, and use call-to-actions (CTAs) within your videos, such as verbally mentioning your website or using YouTube cards and end screens with clickable links.
Utilise the About section of your channel to provide information about your brand and include a link to your website. Engage with your audience by responding to comments and including links to relevant content on your site. Promote your website in your videos by explaining why viewers should visit it, and consider using YouTube ads to reach a larger audience. By implementing these strategies, you can effectively drive traffic to your website, increasing your online presence and engagement. Once implemented, you’re going to see a lovely cycle of customer revenue from YouTube.
Showcase Your Business
We’re always pushing our clients (in the nicest way) to showcase themselves on YouTube. It really is the perfect place to showcase your business, which can boost your online presence and engagement. If you don’t already have one, we can help you set up your channel with your business name, logo and a compelling banner. It’s quite simple to do and lots of fun to become part of the platform.
What we produce for our clients is high-quality content such as product demonstrations, tutorials, behind-the-scenes glimpses and some customer testimonials which highlight our client’s offerings and build trust. If you come across any influencers who see eye to eye with your brand and values, you could always try to collaborate with them to expand your reach. By following these steps, you can effectively showcase your business on YouTube and convert viewers into customers.
If you’re looking for a video production company in Manchester, Cheshire or anywhere in the North West, Brickoven are amazing! For proof, look up Coffee Kev on Youtube (that’s me) and look at my earlier videos, and then watch some of my more recent videos, you’ll see the massive improvements! Not only in video production quality, in terms of the quality of the filming and the audio, the editing, but also the general overall viewing experience, thanks to their amazing level of knowledge and skill.
– Kevin Lewis – UKcoffeeblog
Merchandise and Products
Many YouTubers have custom-branded merchandise as an arm of their revenue stream. This is a great way of allowing fans to support your journey, many hardcore fans will want to show that they support your channel and show they are part of your community. Often merchandise is handled through 3rd party resellers that you submit your design to and get a cut of the sales made on the storefront.
This may seem like an avenue only for Youtubers but many businesses can use this too, many big businesses have merchandise that they sell on their sites that can be linked out to from YouTube descriptions. For example, not everyone can afford a Porsche but most people can afford a Porsche t-shirt. A link in the description pointing to the website and you’ve added more eyes on your product.
Sponsorships
You might have noticed that a lot of established YouTube channels have sponsors, this is another way of boosting your YouTube income. YouTube sponsorships involve partnerships where creators promote a brand’s product, service, or message in their videos in exchange for compensation or sweet, sweet moolah. When done tastefully, they can be really effective for your audience. These sponsorships can take various forms, such as product placements, brand mentions, dedicated videos, sponsored segments, affiliate marketing, and discount codes. Our current YouTube client Coffee Kev uses the latter in all of his videos, resulting in a massive update in his coffee subscription service.
The process typically includes finding sponsors, negotiating terms, signing a contract, creating content, obtaining sponsor approval, publishing the video, and receiving payment. Sponsorships provide creators with additional revenue, access to free products, and opportunities to engage their audience with valuable content. By leveraging these opportunities, you can effectively monetise your channel while enhancing your content and providing value to your viewers.
And that’s it! A little handy guide on how to make money on YouTube for you or your business.
If you are interested in jumping into the world of YouTube or fancy a general chat about how it could help then feel free to get in touch or call us on 0161 327 3799.