There are hundreds of thousands of YouTube channels who make videos and earn money out of it. There are many YouTube channels who don’t make money at all. This article is all about how YOU can build a living out of making YouTube videos. In this article, we are going to discuss the practical possibility of you making money.
The Internet is built by the people. Behind every bit of an information on the internet, there is a human being. So, why is there a lot of information on the internet? What is the main reason behind internet being so successful? It’s simple to guess, the answer is money. As Larry Page puts it ‘information sells’.
This is one of the main reason why a lot of videos get uploaded every minute on YouTube. Now, it’s your choice whether you want to be a part of the business or not. The harsh truth about YouTube is not every YouTube channel makes a decent amount of money. Some of them don’t even make a single penny. So, there is a way for everything. Let’s start understanding how it works
– Starting a YouTube channel does not need any money. Its maintenance needs money. You just have to log in with your google account and register to YouTube. You can start uploading your videos right from that moment. To make money, you have to monetize it. I will tell you about monetization later.
– However, there are rules that you have to follow while uploading. You cannot upload a copyrighted video and make money. For example, you cannot upload Katy Perry’s ROAR video and monetize it. And you cannot upload violent contents( like murder or beheadings, it will be taken down), you cannot upload direct sexual contents (like porn) but semi sexual content is approved. If a video gets flagged more than a certain time as inappropriate by the viewers, then YouTube has every right to take down your video and even dismiss your channel.
– The first step of your YouTube journey starts from choosing a niche/topic for your videos. There are many topics you can choose from. Examples – movies, celebs, GK, politics, current affairs, food, travel, music, fun, social experiments, pranks, religions, cultures, war videos, sports, science and technology, ideologies…. The list goes on.
– To earn money, you have to choose the topic which gets more views. My interest lies in business and politics, but I would choose politics over the business because it’s more sensitive and more people love to watch politics related videos than business related videos.
– There are certain kinds of videos which YouTubers love to watch. Videos like pranks, social experiments, funny videos, movie reviews and semi sexual videos normally go viral on YouTube. In many countries, there are official high budget channels which produce such videos regularly.For example, EIC (East India Comedy) is a YouTube channel which makes videos on current affairs in a funny way. I don’t have to tell you that they earn a lot.
– You don’t have to go in the same path in which others are going. You can make videos about what you love. If you love singing, then start making covers on famous songs, that does not violate the copyright laws. If love movies, then make movie reviews. There are YouTubers like Cynthia, Toma Puck who make such video reviews. I was the 250 th subscriber of Toma Puck’s YouTube channel, now he has more than 60000 subscribers just in a couple of months, because of his regularity and entertainment factor. If you are good at painting, then start making videos on how to paint. Share your knowledge, feelings with others. As far as your videos are entertaining, people surely watch it.
– There are many failed channels on YouTube which rarely make some bucks. For example, there is a YouTube channel on Jesus and Christianity (I don’t want to name it) which makes videos on Christianity. If you watch their videos, then you will clearly understand that their videos are more commercial and less religious. They have made hundreds of videos but got less than 300 views per video. It’s because the viewer loses trust on the channel as soon as he/she understands that it’s a company advertising its products by doing videos in the name of God. So, don’t try to cheat people like that.
– Make regular videos. At least do 2-4 videos per week initially. Ask people to subscribe to your videos, otherwise, they always forget to hit the subscribe buttons.
– Making money on YouTube is not a get rich quick scheme. It takes time and dedication. If you are successful in drawing more and more viewers to your videos, then you can definitely make money. There is no doubt in that.
How do I earn money by uploading videos on YouTube?
There are mainly 4 ways of making money on YouTube. Let’s discuss them one by one,
1. Through google adsense – It’s the most common way of making money on YouTube/ blogs/ websites. Google has this commercial service called AdSense where people sell their space for google so that google can advertise others’ products. It works somewhat like this,
– You apply for Adsense service, Google approves your channel to be monetized.
– You monetize your channel. By the word monetize, I mean you let the advertisements to come before/during/after your videos and for every ad a viewer watches or clicks on, you get a certain amount of money. Google itself pays you the money that you have generated through your videos.
– Average income can be calculated through the famous ratio of 1.5 $ per 1000 views. This is a casual estimation of probability of money generated for 1000 views. So if you are getting 30000 views per video and you are doing 8 videos per month, then your income from Google Adsense is nearly 360 $ per month. Toma Puck must be earning more than that amount because what we have calculated is the worst case scenario, moreover, such incomes are exponential, which means you start earning more and more as time passes. Ask him about his income, he may tell you if he is generous.
2. Through Affiliation – Unlike Adsense, you will be selling a relevant product in your videos. To put it simply I will give you an example, there is a YouTube channel in which stock trading is taught, the guy in the video teaches you about stock trading strategies and he recommends you a specific trading platform to use because he is an affiliate for it.
Even though he recommends it time to time, it does not seem gross to his viewers since he does not stress too much on it (unlike the Jesus guy, whose sole purpose is to sell some products).
So, there are many E-commerce companies who offer affiliation. Once you become an affiliate, you can generate your own link to certain products, if anybody buys anything through that product, then you get a certain amount of money. It works something like this,
– You chose a topic for your YouTube channel, let’s say it’s about traveling.
– You search for affiliation options on google, just type ‘traveling+ affiliation’ on google and you will get all the products related to traveling which you have a chance to affiliate for.
– Most famous affiliation option is Amazon affiliation. You get nearly every kind of products in a single place. Suppose if you are making a video about which traveling bag is good for a long drive or something like that, then you can put your unique link of that bag in the description which redirects your viewers to Amazon soon after they click those links. If they buy any product within a day through Amazon, then you will get a commission from it.
– I’m warning you again, only sell those items which are relevant. See if the product/services you are recommending is going to fit in for the videos you are making.
3. Selling your own product – A YouTube channel called ‘Being Indian’ is a very famous social experiment channel in India. They have a fandom all over the country. Recently they started selling their own T-shirts on YouTube for their fans. There are thousands of such examples on YouTube. This is the most direct and effective way of making money.
Or, if you have a business and if you want to sell your products, then you can do that also. But don’t just ask your viewers to buy your products. If you have a surfing boards manufacturing business, then make cool videos on surfing so that your viewers can enjoy watching it. At the end give them a link where they can buy your surfing boards if they are interested.
Or, if you are good at painting, then give your viewers your contact and sell it to the people who are interested in buying. The options are unlimited. You only need to be a good marketer to make use of it.
4. Sponsorship – This is when you become famous on YouTube. If your videos are getting a lot of traffic/views then multi national companies start sponsoring for your videos. Suppose if you are doing videos on different kinds of beverage, then Coca cola may approach you for sponsoring your videos. Or else, you can approach them whether they are interested in sponsoring.
Most of the time you either have to use their products/company name in your videos, or you will have to wear a T-shirt with their logo. This can generate you a lot of money. But you have to be famous to reach this level.
So, now that you have understood about making money through YouTube, don’t waste your time thinking whether you should try or not. 80% of the people just read the article and think about it for a while and forget it. In the remaining 20%, only 5% of the people will succeed. Be in that 5%, I will be more than happy to know that you have become a successful YouTuber after reading this article. GOOD LUCK.