Present statistics show over 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month. That’s a lot, so it’s not surprising that many internet marketers derive some or all of their income via YouTube videos, but what are the best ways to make money with YouTube? There are several ways. The first two methods use the YouTube content to create money in its own right. The third way is to use the videos to drive traffic to a (content-relevevant) website or affiliate sales page.
How to Make Money with YouTube by Monetizing Videos
YouTube videos are monetized via Google Adsense so an AdSense account will be required, as will a YouTube account, but a third very important ingredient is required before it is possible to make money by monetizing YouTube videos—an established YouTube presence. So the first step is to begin making and uploading some (quirky, entertaining, or informative videos). After the videos have received a decent amount of page views and the channel has a number of subscribers, YouTube will send an email invitation to join their partner program. Alternatively it also possible to opt-in by first checking tha channel/videos meet YouTube’s membership criteria and then following YouTube’s recommended steps for becoming a partner.
Once accepted into the YouTube partnership programme, content creators can then choose to monetize their videos with AdSense and be paid a commission for clicks generated by ads placed inside or near their videos.
Making Money with Paid Channels
A second way publishers can make money with YouTube by making their channel a ‘Paid Channel’ and allowing their videos to be viewed by subscription-paying customers only. More on that here.
YouTube as a Traffic Provider
The third way to make money with YouTube is to create videos (it’s not recommended practice, but some marketers also ‘borrow’ other people’s videos) that are a good fit for the desired affiliate product or niche website and then post a link in the description. Only a small percentage of viewers will follow the link, but a highly popular video can still generate generous amounts of traffic , some of which will (hopefully) convert to sales.
