Before now, you must have heard about YouTube, or perhaps have an account with them or watched their videos. For those who are just coming across the ‘name’ for their very first time, you don’t need to worry, this post got you covered. In this post, you’ll learn how to make money on YouTube, or rather the most effective ways to make money on YouTube this year.
Few years ago when I was searching for ‘how to make money on YouTube’, I couldn’t get any material that explicitly explained what I was looking for. But after series of extensive research, I was able to decode how it works, and I think you should know about it.
The information I’m about to share with you is not only for the beginners but also to those who want to sharpen their YouTube money making skills.
What is YouTube?
YouTube is a video sharing platform where you can create your own profile, upload videos, watch videos, like and comment on other people’s videos. YouTube has its headquarters in California, United State. This video sharing site was created in 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim. In 2016, Google bought it for $1.65 billion (USD).
Today, YouTube is the most popular video sharing site in the web.
How to make money on YouTube
Here are the steps you should follow to make money on YouTube.
1. Create YouTube channel
The first thing to do is to create your YouTube account followed by YouTube channel. since YouTube is owned by Google, “one account is all for Google”, meaning that you can just sign in straight away using your existing Google account i.e Gmail account. If you don’t have Google account before, creating YouTube account will give you access to Gmail and all other Google products.
Follow the steps below to create “Google account’ or sign in to YouTube using your existing account.
- Go to www.youtube.com. It will take you to YouTube home page.
- Click on profile icon at the top right side of the home page. As show in the picture below;
- Click on “Sign in” button. That will take you to a page where you’ll sign in with your gmail address and password.
- Enter your Email address i. Please, your e-mail address should be Gmail i.e xyz@gmail.com. If don’t have Gmail, click “Create account” link to create your Gmail address.
- Click on the blue “Next” button. It will display a page where to enter your email Password.
The next thing is to create a YouTube channel. Without YouTube channel you can’t upload a video on YouTube.
Follow the steps below to create a YouTube channel where your videos will be stored.
- Go to www.youtube.com or navigate to the home page if you’re already on YouTube site.
- Click on your profile icon at the top right side.
- Click on “Your Channel” link, as shown below;
- Enter the your First Name and Last Name as applicable
- Finally, Click blue “CREATE CHANNEL” button.
– To add keywords, go to Advance Settings, but you should make sure that your keywords are related to your content.
– Your Channel username can either work for you or against you. To make it work for you; your username should be short and easy to remember.
2. Upload video content on YouTube
Once you singn in to your account, you’ll be able to upload a video
You need to upload high quality videos, and let it not be too long. Although, your video length can vary depending on the type of video you choose to upload. I advise you to make your videos 2 to 15 minutes long.
Try to upload videos regularly, not just once in a while. That will help you to gather more audience.
Do not be discouraged, even if your content is not great from the start. Keep doing it, they say “practice makes perfect”. Each time you upload new video, let it be better than the previous ones. You’ll surely improve as you do that.
The quality of your videos can be improved if you use better camera or editing app or software.
Make original quality videos. You can use a tripod to film the scenes or ask a friend to help you. All these will help for a superior final result which thus causes you get more subscribers or audience.
Tag your video with keywords that is relevant to the video and have a regular schedule to upload videos. i.e it can be every Friday or 2 times in a week. These will help you tp grow your audience.
3. Build your YouTube audience
Building your YouTube audience will cause your earnings to increase. In fact, the number of people that watch your videos determines your earnings. Therefore, you need people to watch your videos. To get people that will watch your videos, make the best contents you can ever and they will subscribe to watch your Channel.
Any time you upload a new video, try to share the video link on social media like, Facebook, WhatsApp Twitter and many others.
Also, interact with your viewers by replying their comments or answering their questions.
4. Monetize your video
To start making money on YouTube, you need to monetize your video.
Monetizing your YouTube videos means to ask Google to place ads in your videos. By doing that, you acknowledge that there is not copyright infringement in your videos.
When your videos are monetized, anybody that try to watch it will first be served with video ads; if the person skip the ads, you’ll not make any money out of it but if the person watch the ads which usually last for few seconds, you’ll make money.
Here are the steps to follow to monetize your YouTube video
- Go to www.youtube.com
- Click “My Channel” from the menu
- Click “Video Manager” link which is located on the top bar.
- Click “Channel” and Enable monetization.
5. Meet Google requirements
To be able to monetize your videos, you need get at least 1,000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours in the previous 12 months.
To monetize a video as it uploads, click the “Monetization” button and tick “Monetize with Ads” box.
To monetize a video after it has been uploaded, open the Video Manager and click “$” corresponding to the video that you want to monetize. Then check “Monetize with Ads” box.
6. Apply for Google Adsense account*
This is how to apply for Google AdSense.
Go to www.google.com/adsense and click on “Get started” button. You should be 18 years or above to have Google AdSense account. If you are younger then you will require assistance from an adult.
PayPal or a bank account, valid postal address and other information are needed needed to verify your identity. Google pays only when there is a click to your ads and very little amount per view.
7. Check your YouTube Account analytics
When you get views on monetized videos, you can look at the analytics on them to know how they are performing.
8: Market your videos outside YouTube
Try not to put your videos just on YouTube. Create a blog or website and embed your videos there, also you can post the videos and its links on social media this gives you opportunity to get more viewers.
9. Become a YouTube partner
YouTube Partners are people who monetized their videos with large number of viewers.
As a partner, you can access more video making tools and stand chances to win prizes for the quantity of viewers you have.
You can apply for YouTube partners via the Partner page.
10. Increase your income with affiliate marketing
Affiliate Marketing simple means to sell another person’s product in exchange for commission.
There are numerous organizations that want affiliate marketers to promote their products or services.
YouTube affiliate marketing is creating videos and place affiliate link in the videos through annotations or in video description. If a purchase is made through your affiliate link, your commission will be paid.
Click on ‘Analytics’ to view your estimated earnings, video views, ad performance and so on.
Those tools enable you to how your content is reverberating with your audience. This will help you to improve.