How to Make Money on YouTube [A Complete Guide]

More and more people are addicted to watching videos making YouTube the second most used social media platform. YouTube has more than 2.56 billion active users across the globe including business owners, content creators, and viewers. 

Business owners like DPS Power have been doing video marketing as their strategy to campaign their products and reach wider audiences. More and more people become content creators on YouTube to get additional income. 

There are around 114 million users that become content creators on YouTube. The number seems a lot, but it only accounts for 4.38% of all YouTube users. As YouTube’s fame doesn’t seem to decline anytime soon, it can be a great place to get more income.

Many people get a crazy salary from their channels. YouTubers with the highest income in 2021 are Mr. Beast (Jimmy Donaldson) with US$54 million per year, followed by Jake Paul with US$45 million per year.

Those numbers are tempting enough for people to follow their leads. If you plan to open a channel and become a content creator in the future, make sure you know the best way to get there. Keep on reading to find out the ways to make money on YouTube.

#1. Join the YouTube Partner Program

One of the most common ways to get income from YouTube is by joining the YouTube Partner Program. The door to this program opens only when you have more than 1,000 subscribers. Once you overcome the hurdle, you’ll be able to earn advertising revenue, including setting up an AdSense Account.

There are some other requirements you need to fulfill to get income from this program. For more detailed information, take a look at the steps to join the YouTube Partner Program below:

1. Create a YouTube Channel.

2. Create content and promote your channel to get viewers and subscribers.

3. Continue your progress until you reach 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours within the last 12 months.

4. Set up an AdSense account by following the guidelines on the YouTube official page.

5. Explore other monetization features

If you have enough subscribers and watch hours, you can access more monetization features, such as ad revenue, YouTube premium revenue, channel memberships, merchandise shelf, and super chat payments.

Make sure to always follow the YouTube Partner Program policies and the Community Guidelines to avoid warnings that can lead to content removal.

#2. Sell Products or Merchandise

Business owners can also use YouTube as a platform to sell their products. The fact that people stream an average of 694,000 hours of video every minute makes the platform a legitimate place to market products or services. You can put links on your video or description box that refer to your products.

Moreover, YouTubers who have more than one million subscribers often have their own merchandise for their subscribers. This way, they’re not only getting money from the YouTube Partner Program but also from their business. 

However, if you think creating physical products is too much work, you can try another way. You can also market products like e-books, online classes, or art prints.

#3. Make Sponsored Content

Another way to make money from YouTube is by creating sponsored content. Companies have been doing sponsored content with many YouTubers over the past few years. Generally, companies will sponsor or offer products to YouTubers in exchange for shoutouts.

To be able to make sponsored content, you must have enough subscribers and viewers. Companies only make agreements with YouTubers who they think are capable of exposing their product to a mass of people. Therefore, the more subscribers you have, the higher your chance to get sponsored content.

#4. Become an Affiliate Marketer

Affiliate marketing can be a promising passive income when you finally know how to deal with it. YouTube is among many social media platforms to do affiliate marketing. Similar to sponsored content, you need a mass audience to make your affiliate work. 

What you need to do is put affiliate links on your YouTube videos or descriptions box. You’ll earn money every time users click on your link and buy the product. There are some companies or sellers that provide affiliate programs, such as Amazon, ShareASale, and ClickBank.

If you plan to do an affiliate marketing, check out some steps below:

1. Create a YouTube Channel

2. Sign up for an affiliate program

3. Once you’re accepted, follow the guidelines to make affiliate links for the products that you want to feature in your video.

4. After you have the affiliate links, you can put them on your YouTube video

Another tip is that you can do a demo or review for the products that you feature in your affiliate links. This way, you’ll build trust in your audience, so the chance of them clicking on your affiliate link is higher.

#5. Make Crowdfunding

If you’re not familiar with crowdfunding, it is a way of raising money for projects or business purposes. Fundraisers usually collect money via social media, such as YouTube. The most commonly used methods for crowdfunding are recurring and project-based.

Recurring crowdfunding is used more often by YouTubers. It allows them to build a long-term community using a paid subscription system. So, YouTubers may set the particular video to be exclusive to members only.

Take Away

Those are some guides on how to make money on YouTube. If you plan to make a channel, make sure to upload content regularly to gain more subscribers. Usually, YouTubers choose their niche by their hobbies. So, you can start uploading videos by doing things that you like. More video types can be promising to gain viewers, such as music and gaming videos.

However, gathering a mass of people to subscribe to your channel may be a bit of a challenge, especially for beginners. A way that you can try to speed up this process is by promoting your channel on your social media. Once you have enough subscribers, you can monetize your channel to earn advertising revenue.