Making YouTube videos is a legitimate way to create content for making money online.
But that is if you monetize your YouTube channel the right way.
Contrary to popular opinions, making money on YouTube is not that easy. You’ll have to find the right niche, make interesting videos, and garner substantial views.
This is why more than 40% of new YouTubers quit at the first time of trying.
They found out that making YouTube videos and earning money for their efforts is not as easy as they thought.
A few others who achieved YouTube partnership also realized that they’ll need to make substantially more videos and get more views to earn anything decent on the platform.
So, what should you expect from YouTube, especially relating to earnings?
How Much Does YouTube Pay?
YouTube pays according to your views and CPM.
CPM stands for Cost per Mille (thousand) which means how much advertisers are willing to pay per thousand views.
In some niches, CPMs are higher, while in others, they are significantly lower.
CPMs can also be affected by the country where your audience is watching from.
Audiences from tier one countries like the U.S, U.K, Germany, Japan, etc, would command a higher CPM than those from third world countries.
So, for example, if you have a comedy YouTube channel that is targeted at Nigerians, your CPM will be lower than a business channel targeting that same audience.
But if you have a comedy channel targeting U.S audience, your CPM will be significantly higher than both of the other channels.
How Much Do YouTubers Make Monthly?
So, to know how much a YouTuber can make on a monthly basis, it would depend on a combination of a few factors.
- Channel Niche
- Channel Audience
- Number of Views
These three factors will determine how much a YouTuber can make, no matter how interesting their videos.
If you have an interesting video with low views, and an audience from poor countries, you will make less money on YouTube.
How To Quickly Make Money With Your YouTube Channel
In my opinion, if you want to quickly make money on YouTube without being affected too much by the above factors, then you need to have a strategy from the start.
In other words, a YouTube channel that wants to make money fast would have to start doing so from the start.
Right from the very first video.
You have to start offering something that the audience can pay for without making it look too salesy.
Here’s how.
Choose a Niche That Has Willing Buyers
The first step to quickly monetize your YouTube channel is to find a niche that has willing buyers.
Nothing beats that.
If you have the best product in the world being marketed to an audience that is unwilling to buy, then it’s all a waste of time.
You have to verify that the niche has an audience with buying intentions either to solve a problem or to fill a need.
And that niche should be one that you can create a lot of content around.
Create Content Around Products or Services
Once you’ve found the right niche, you have to create content around products and/or services.
This is where your research skills come into play.
Find video topics with buying intent and find the right products or services to advertise in them.
Make Compelling Videos
Now, apart from having products and services advertised in your videos, you have to make them compelling enough.
Are the videos interesting to watch?
Are there parts of the video that compels the audience to take a particular action?
Is the video able to grasp and hold the attention of the audience for a reasonable period of time?
You have to find ways to do these things. Easy? Nope, but definitely doable.
10 Ways to Monetize Your YouTube Videos Fast
Now, if you already have a YouTube channel and are looking for quick ways to make money with your channel, then maybe a different approach might work.
You might even be looking for more ways or ideas to monetize your YouTube channel and make more money from your content.
Here are a few ideas to help you.
Offer Paid Downloads
Offering paid downloads is one of the fastest ways to monetize your YouTube channel.
If your channel is about movies, music or education, then you can offer paid downloadable contents such as movies, instrumentals, and scripts.
The best way to do this is to make a preamble video or a trailer about the paid content and then link to the paid download page and ask your audience to go there to buy it.
Affiliate Products
If you already have a YouTube channel in a niche with lots of recommendable products, then affiliate marketing might just be a good way to monetize your YouTube channel.
You don’t have to create any product or even build a landing page.
Simply find an affiliate product offer than matches your audience needs and keep recommending the affiliate products in your videos.
Easy peasy money!
Sell Merchs
Ha! merch again?
Yes, selling merchs is one of the best ways to monetize your YouTube channel if you have a channel built around a community or clique.
One good thing about merchs is that they are easy to sell because the audience buys merchs for their own fashion needs.
You can use a platform like Teespring to create your own merch at zero cost and start making a cut of every order you sell.
Sell Services
Selling services is one of the oldest ways to monetize a YouTube channel and make money.
In the early days before the YouTube partnership was created, most creators made money this way.
The good news is that it is still doable and profitable.
Artists can get jobs right from their audience.
Musicians can get orders right from their audience
Even programmers are not left out.
All you need to do is notify your audience that you are available for freelance jobs, and you’d get the money rolling.
Patreon Paid Subscription
Patreon was used largely before YouTube created the paid membership option.
But it is still usable if you want to monetize your channel outside the YouTube ecosystem.
If you already have a YouTube channel with an audience that loves you and wants to support you, then this is a very good option.
YouTube Memberships
This is similar to the Patreon Paid subscription for serving an exclusive audience, but inside the YouTube ecosystem.
If you want to keep all your memberships in one place, inside YouTube, then this would be ideal.
This is perfect for making money with a channel that has an audience that is willing to give some support.
Adsense Video Ads
If you already have a YouTube channel with at least a thousand subscribers and 4,000 watch hours in the last year, then this would be an easy way for monetization.
Almost every YouTube channel uses this option because it is simply plug and play, and you won’t need to bother about anything once it is set up.
If you see video ads playing over your YouTube videos, then you probably have adsense video ads or your content is good enough for adsense ads.
Shorts Revenue Share
This is just an extension of the Adsense Video Ads, but for YouTube shorts.
If you qualify for YouTube ads, then you will be paid a share of YouTube shorts and revenue.
The shorts sevenue is shared according to the amount of views generated by each channel on the program.
So, the more views your YouTube shorts generate, the more money you can make. Pretty straightforward.
YouTube Supers
This is one of the best ways to monetize a YouTube channel that has a lot of engagements.
If you have a YouTube channel that constantly engages your audience and the audience seems quite responsive, then this option would make you good money.
With YouTube Supers, you can make money during live videos with Super Chat for highlighted comments, Super stickers for animated stickers, and Super thanks for your audience to appreciate you.
If you want to know if your audience really appreciates what you do, then this is one way to verify.
Product Dropshipping
Dropshipping is one of the easiest ways to monetize a channel without investing significantly.
If your channel is all about products or reviews, then you can easily monetize it with Dropshipping.
You can use a platform like Oberlo to find products that match your video content and the needs of your audience, and then curate those products into a special catalog that you can recommend.
All it takes is just a link in your description pointing to your product page, and a call-to-action in your video telling your viewers to go click that link.
And then money rolls.
Conclusion
You can make money on YouTube as quickly or as slowly as you want.
It all depends on your monetization strategy and how you plan to make money with your YouTube channel.
If you stick with YouTube-controlled monetizations, then you’ll have to wait a longer time.
But if you monetize your YouTube channel with external options, you can start making money from your channel right from the first day.
It could take some effort to set up though, and there could be a bit of a learning curve needed to optimize any monetization strategy that is outside of YouTube control.
However, you’ll definitely be spoilt for choice on the number of available options out there for making money on YouTube.
It’s all in your hands.