You have probably seen some very successful Youtubers who have tens of millions of views and millions of subscribers. These guys are making big money. They are famous. Have you asked yourself, “Can I Make Money on Youtube?”
Yes YOU can make money on YouTube!
Anyone can make money on YouTube!
It’s not a rocket science!
If you’re planning to make money on YouTube, the first thing that I recommend you doing is to install TubeBuddy to your browser because it will make the whole process much easier. (Read my Full TubeBuddy review here and see practical ways how it helps me to earn more money on YouTube).
Let’s start with good news: You don’t need to be famous to make money on Youtube. You don’t need a big amount of followers in the start. You need an idea, get started and keep on going. There is four kind of people:
1.Those who don’t have an idea about Youtube videos.
2.Those who have an idea but don’t start
3.Those who have an idea and start making videos. But then they stop before they earn income.
4.And then there are people who start with their idea and keep on going until they break through and start making good money on Youtube.
In which group do you belong?
Making money on Youtube is possible. If it’s possible for one. It’s possible for you. Now let’s think what are the ways to make money on Youtube.
1.Google AdSense
This probably the easiest and the fastest way to earn some revenue on Youtube. However, you will not be earning very much at first. On Youtube, you can display ads on your videos. An ad will appear on the right, before the video or in the bottom of the video. When a viewer engages with the ad you get paid.
So you will not get paid every time when somebody sees an ad but when they click on it or for example watch the full video ad. The revenue on ads vary a lot but usually it’s something like $0,80-$7 per 1,000 impressions. One impression means that somebody has seen an ad once. So this shows that you need usually thousands of views to even get some little revenue with AdSense.
2.Promote Your Own Products
If you have made some products, you can promote them anywhere. On Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Youtube… But the biggest benefit of Youtube is that in videos you can give the much more profound picture of your products. You can show how they work in practice. You can show the product looks like in real life environment and so on. Just create a video and put a link into description so people can go and buy your product. Or if your product is an event, you can invite people through your video.
3.Affiliate Marketing = Promote Someone Else’s Products
If you don’t have own products this is an easier way to get started. You don’t need to care about product’s handling, shipping, customer complaints and so on. You just present the product and the company takes care of all the other things.
You just put a link to the description and when people click it and go to buy a product, you earn the commission. I have seen Youtubers who are making thousands of dollars with a single video when they put some links to their description.
For example, there is a guy who makes book reviews. Then he was asked what is your favorite book. Then he makes a video where he shows his 9 favorite books and explains a little bit about each of them. Then he put the Amazon links in the description. Every time somebody clicks and buys some of those books, he earns. In addition, if somebody clicks and ends up buying something else on Amazon, he earns the commission.
Those three ways are probably the most popular ones and easiest if you are a beginner. There are also many other ways how you can monetize your Youtube channel when you have gained a big amount of followers.
4.Get Paid to Talk about Products
When you have lots of subscribers, companies get interested in you. They may contact you or you can contact them. There are websites where you can find companies that pay for example somebody who has +10,000 subscribers. When you can 11,000 subscribers, you can contact the product and then you make a deal.
When you have a big audience and people trust in you, they are more willing to buy the products you talk about. Many people may buy a product if you recommend it. Or even that you talk about and raise the awareness is beneficial for the company. The more subscribers you have, the more you get paid. The company can, for example, pay $100 that you make a short video about their product. But again, this requires lots of followers.
5.Licensing your videos
If your video are high quality and they have enough exposure, more and more people get interested in you. Sometimes companies want to use your video or a part of it to their commercials. Then you can sell the part for them and earn some good money. But this, of course, requires that your videos are good and people find them.
6.Invitations/Job Offers
When you get famous on Youtube or people recognize that you have some good talent, you can get invitations. Some Youtubers get invitations to big conferences to speak about their expertise and teach other people.
There was a girl in Finland who published a video on Youtube where he spoke 14 “fake languages”, sang on some of her videos and played instruments. People recognized her talents and she started getting invitations to TV-shows and series. Then she got invited to Hollywood and she signed a contract with a music producer. Everything started with her Youtube videos.
Or then you can make a video about your skills and an employer sees it and invites you to a job interview. The bottom line is that with Youtube the possibilities are limitless.
How to Get Started?
There are three options:
1.Post 100 videos and wonder why they don’t get any views
2.Study and learn all the skills to become a successful Youtuber. But never get started.
3.Start posting videos and keep on learning at the same time.
Which one would you choose? There are people who keep on posting and posting. Then they think that competition is too high and it’s too hard to make money on Youtube. Then some people know what it takes but don’t bother to do the hard work.
In my opinion, the best way is to get started. First, make a plan. For example, decide to publish at least one video every week. Then get started. But don’t only do that but study how you could get better. There are many things that you can practice when you are making Youtube videos:
- How to get ranked better (Go through the step-by-step training on how to get ranked on Youtube)
- How to make your thumbnail better
- How to make a better introduction
- How to maximize conversions
- How to improve the quality of your sound and other aspects of the video
- How to get more interaction to your videos
- How to get more shares on social medias
- How to get more subscribers
There are so many things that you can practice. Every time when you practice some of these skills you learn something. And when you learn something new, you are always one step closer to your Youtube-success. There is one thing that I have noticed among successful Youtubers:
95% of them have worked for years to achieve their success. And all of them started with 0 knowledge.
Everybody who is in the top today has started from the bottom. Every single one. And you are not different. If you want to make money on Youtube you need to start and keep on going. It will take lots of practice and probably lots of failures but those who never try, fail by default.
Example of a Success Plan for Youtube
Benjamin Franklin said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”. That’s why it’s important to make a success plan. It will help you to go forward even when you don’t feel like it.
What you will need for Youtube videos. A microphone or/and a camera. Start by buying those. Write down the deadline when you are going to buy them. Then make your research and when the day comes, you buy them.
Then publish at least 1 video per week. It’s okay to start slowly. Write down dates when you are going to publish your videos. If possible, write down also what will be the subjects of those videos.
Then every week learn something new. I have listed above 8 subjects that you can study to improve your skills. There are even much more but you can start with those. Decide what you are going to study and when. Write it down to your calendar to make sure that you will really do it.
Then start publishing 2 videos per week. I know a successful Internet marketer from France who is posting a new video every day. So 2 videos a week will be your goal. Again, write down dates when you are going to publish them. Then after some time analyze your results. Ask yourself questions: What have you done, what have you learned, what should you improve to get better results immediately and so on. Write down your answers.
Reach out to other successful Internet marketers to get help and learning even more. You need to become an authority. And when you create new content you are always learning something new. The best way to learn is by doing. So, make an action plan and stick to it. And remember that there is only one way to fail. That is quitting.
Want to Get a Step-By-Step Training to a Make Money Online?
To be honest, I am not a specialist on making money on Youtube. I am planning to start learning more on about Youtube and making videos next year in 2017. I will use this post as a guideline and motivation to get started and keep on going. Then I can also report my progress here on YourOnlineRevenue.com.
Many principles that work on Youtube apply also to making money online in general. You need to learn how to get ranked and how to get traffic. You need to learn a bunch of skills.
There are much training regarding that subject and we have reviewed tens of different programs here on YourOnlineRevenue.com. Our #1 recommendation is Wealthy Affiliate. They provide the most comprehensive, in-depth and practical training. In addition, they have the most active and the best community for Internet marketers with more than 800,000 members.
When I am about to start my success journey on Youtube I will for sure ask other successful Youtubers in WA what are their tips and advice. Then I will save tens, hundreds or even thousands of hours because I don’t need to make the same mistakes that they have done.
Want to become part of a community of Internet marketers? Join today in Wealthy Affiliate. It’s totally free to get started!
A question for you: Have you made money on Youtube? How?
Share your thoughts on making money on Youtube. Leave a comment below!
Thank you Roope! Very interesting blog, indeed. Now I have only one YouTube film, but later I will use your tips there, if I publish more videos. You shared so useful tips 😀 All the best to you.
1 video is already more than what most people in this world have so you already have a good start 😉
I recommend watching Jay’s webinars on how to get ranked and succeed on YouTube.
His webinars were the main reason why I got started myself on YouTube and started making money there.
Earning in youtube is so trendy now a days. Earning on it become so popular because you can really make a million out of ads in youtube and that is the Google ad sense. You need to make another account for that and you cant easily apply on it because it has a process if you really has a quality video.
Here in my country there are a lot of so called ‘vloggers’ All you need to do is make a content then upload it, easy as that. but you must have a great number of viewers for you to have a lot of viewers you must have a trendy content.
Yeah, it looks easy but succeeding on YouTube really requires work and effort. Usually nobody becomes an overnight success.
That being said, I believe that anybody can learn the skills that it takes to succeed on YouTube. If I remember right, you are from the Philippines? I have seen a few Filipino YouTubers that have a large following there.
Enabling Google ads is easy but you will not make big money with them. If you want to make big money with YouTube, I recommend doing affiliate marketing, sponsored posts or selling your own products.
I and some money from Google AdSense but most of my income comes from affiliate marketing and sponsored posts.
I talked also with other YouTubers and they are telling me the same story.
Yes, they said it is really hard to be approved by the Google ad sense it really takes time and hard work, Some of the youtuber’s said that you should upload quality videos on youtube for 6 months CONTINUOUSLY for you to get approved. But after that your hard work will really payoff. Yes I am from the Philippines sir Roope, and the reason why the numbers of youtuber’s here in our country increased its because some of those who are a youtube user for a long time already earns millions today.
Actually, you may get approved for Google Adsense in 1 week if you meet their requirements. For most people it just takes more time.
The requirements are:
1.1k subscribers
2.Certain amount of watch time during the last year. I do not remember the exact time but you will find it on Google.
The required subscriber is only 1k? I thought you must have atleast 10k subscribers. And before you get approved you must have a lot of posted videos. The reason why I am not trying to be a youtube vloggers its because I felt like I cant fulfill their given requirements especially that 10k subs.
Thank you for informing me that I only need a 1k subs. I am planning joining youtube for a long time now. And now it is more possible for me to fulfill the requirements. Thanks a lot for the informations that you always share with us.
1k is a requirement for YouTube ads but even if you would have less than that, you may create sponsored videos if a company wants to sponsor them.
Even though I had only ~1,5k subscribers, some company paid me $115 for creating a short sponsored video that took me only 2-3 hours to create.
It really depends on which niche you are. In the other words, what is the subject of your channel. On some niches companies are willing to pay lots of money for sponsored videos while on other niches they pay hardly nothing.
Wow 115$ for every 2-3 hours. You are so lucky buddy. I don’t earn that much and I don’t think that I can earn that much. By the way, based on what I’ve researched Youtube is not the one who pays as it is the ads who does.
So no matter how many videos do you upload in your channel if it don’t have an ad, expect that you would not receive a pay. But we should not worry because commonly most of the videos that are in the youtube already has an ad. It is the video that you watch before the video starts.
Well of course I don’t make $115 every 2-3 hours 😀 It was just an example of some sponsored videos that I made and the possibilities that you can earn. I don’t have such offers all the time but sometimes yes.
However, when your channel grows bigger, you could earn much more than that. My channel is still relatively small but I am making some money out of it. Imagine when you build a much bigger channel than mine (which is completely possible). Then you’ll be earning even much more.
Anything is possible when you have a clear goal and you are willing to work hard and learn the skills to get there.
I saw your videos in youtube sir!!! You are right, for me the only hard thing to be a youtuber is that as a youtuber you should have a different contents in each of your video uploads. And also you should have your own originality for you to have more subscribers and viewers.
Thanks for checking out my videos! 😀
I recommend choosing the subject that interests you the most. Something that you are passionate about and would like to talk like every day with your friends or family. Then it’ll be easier to create also content about it.
You’re welcome, but I noticed that sometimes the things that you want to be your content is not trendy so the viewers will not watch it because you are the only one who are interested on it. So that is why you must find which is the trendy right now. Always find what is the new interest of the people.
Yeah, publishing trendy content on YouTube is a great strategy to get views. Another strategy is to publish evergreen content that will attract views for years to come.
There is a post that went viral, it says that she noticed that there is no vlogger that focus about the real art, which is true, I don’t see a vlogger who upload a video about art consistently. So if someone does it he will surely get the sympathy of all the artist out there. So for who are planning and thinking what can be the best content for their first video, here is my suggestion.
I made a quick check and find out that there’s also quite a lot of competition for art. But sure, one is able to make money with art niche like within any other subject.
Ohhh I am happy to know that because when I tried to search for it the result is not what I am expecting. When I am in the school today I am thinking about this and I realized that math tutorials, calculus anything about math is also a good content for your channel it will surely be a great help to those students like me.
Thanks for writing this article as I’ve been considering making a Youtube channel lately and your tips have really helped me learn more. I would prefer to just be able to rely on Adsense since it sounds a bit simpler but I know that it might not be the easiest or may not even be the most practical way to go about it.
I’d love to know if you could possibly share some tips on growing a Youtube channel enough so that it could rely mostly on Adsense or subscribers via Patreon, but if not, this article has already been helpful enough since it does iterate how you could just use it as a tool and not be so reliant on Google which of course is also a good thing.
I highly recommend that you will not mostly rely on Google AdSense. If you use only Google AdSense for monetizing your videos, you will not reach your full potential.
I like to think Google AdSense income as a little extra to my main income sources. You will most likely earn much better on YouTube with affiliate marketing. It means promoting other people’s products.
Sponsored videos also pay very well but you need to have at least some subscribers before companies without paying for the videos.
No! I haven’t made money on youtube. I think am a part of category 2: people who have ideas, get started but then quit before earning.
I like the way you explained the whole YouTube thing in a step by step manner. This just shows how hard you have to work in order to be successful on YouTube.. plus google AdSense in recent time has become so difficult to get accepted into. However, you tips are very recommendaly. Thanks for the ideas.
Hi Rumu,
it requires hard work to succeed in YouTube but I think it’s worth it. The potential is so huge. I’d rather work for YouTube videos for years than in a regular 9-5 job doing some boring office stuff. I am planning to film a video blog in a near future.
YouTube is a very good opportunity to earn money but the problem is that it does require a lot of work. It is never too late to get into this industry but you will need to work even harder because of how many other YouTubers there are.
I think Google have recently changed their pay for advertisements on your videos so YouTubers are earning a lot less than they were before. Because of that, the best thing to do is to build a channel and then try and get money from advertising products on your channel videos.
Hi Kingcool,
it’s true that making money through YouTube requires lots of work and persistence. However, it can definitely generate much more money than a regular 9 to 5 job in the long run.
There are many ways to monetize through YouTube. Video has many benefits compared to a blog. I like using them both because it gives even a more comprehensive experience for the audience.
Great article!
It’s so true though that it takes soo many views/subscribers to make any decent income. How many would you say one should aim for ?
I have my own channel but the competition is so fierce in my field, so I kind if gave up, lol. It’s very time consuming so you really need to keep at it and never lose faith!
Hi Selah,
You are right that it takes lots of effort. But anything in life that is really worth having takes usually effort and work. Nothing comes for free. But after you have worked hard, experienced some failures and eventually make it, the reward feels even bigger.
It’s hard to say a specific goal what one should aim for. I would say that set individual goals for yourself. What amount of views do you want to achieve in 1 year? What about in 1 month? What are you going to do to achieve that goal? Then write down your goals with a plan how you will achieve it.
Then start doing and analyze your results. Even if you wouldn’t have achieved your goal, you have made progress and probably learned something new. Then you can set a new goal that you want to achieve and start working on that. It can be challenging when you don’t see immediate results but when you know that your hard work will one day pay off, it gives you motivation to keep on pushing forward. 🙂
-Roope
These are some great ways to make money on youtube. At my day job we made some videos offering BBQ tips and I realized one of them started getting a decent amount of views one day, over 10,000.
I quickly turned on Adsense and was ready for the pennies to start flowing in lol!
However, it has only made about $5 so far in the last couple months. Like you said it takes a lot of subscribers to really make money so we are working on that.
Hi Jeremy,
yes, making money on Youtube doesn’t usually happen very quickly. Especially if one doesn’t have former experience. But with the constant learning and work you can make big income on Youtube.
Having 10,000 is already a VERY GOOD start and if you keep on scaling you will reach even much bigger numbers. The number of views is not the only factor how much you earn because you will be paid when visitors interact with Ads. You can make more than $5 with 10,000 views but still not hundreds of dollars.
Keep on posting new content and make little upgrades to your videos. Then you will make progress which will make you more traffic and more $$$ 😉
-Roope