Are you looking to make money on YouTube? In recent years, YouTube has taken center stage for people looking for a steady source of income. People earn on YouTube by making awesome videos, selling products, running ads, doing affiliate marketing, and more. Among the various digital marketing strategies, YouTube marketing, if done right, can be a massive game-changer for your businesses too. This platform can be lucrative if you are passionate and consistent about your content. Here we discuss the ten proven tips to increase your YouTube earnings. But, before that, let’s check out some interesting facts and figures on YouTube earnings.
How Much Money Do YouTubers Make on YouTube?
YouTube offers many opportunities to make money online. It’s only a matter of developing creative content and promoting your channel in the right direction. So on average, how much money can YouTubers make on the platform? Here are some estimates of money you can make on YouTube:
- YouTubers can make about $18 for every 1,000 ad views
- A video with ads and 1 million views can make around $2000
- YouTubers with 1 million subscribers can make $60,000 annually
- YouTubers with 100,000 subscribers make $2400-$4000
- MrBeast is the wealthiest YouTube channel making over $54 million annually
- YouTube generates over $13 billion every year from Ad revenue
- Food, entertainment, and gaming are top profitable channel categories
The payment YouTube makes to YouTubers varies based on factors such as advertisement quality, video length, number of clicks, views, etc. Running a YouTube channel can be a roller coaster ride; it’s thrilling and exciting. However, if you are looking to drive a long-term income through your channel, there are certain tips you can follow to increase your YouTube earnings.
10 Excellent Tips to Increase Your YouTube Earnings
Whether you want to promote your creativity or sell products and services, you should first create a YouTube channel. Select your channel name carefully, as it will appear on the videos, channel page, and search results. It also lets people perceive and understand what your channel is about. After you have a channel ready, try these tips to increase your YouTube earnings on the platform.
1. Build Your Brand
YouTube is an excellent platform for building authority and credibility as a brand. After you create your YouTube channel and have started uploading videos, it’s time for branding. Strong brands can boost interest, drive new customers, and strengthen the overall business marketing strategy. It’s essential to be consistent when you are planning to brand your channel. Creating a visual brand identity is a big part of YouTube’s branding strategy. It displays how you want to communicate to the audience. Here is how you can brand your channel like a pro:
- Define the tone and voice of your channel, which can be humorous, educational, and political.
- Focus on creative elements like brand color palette, logo imagery, and typography.
- Choose a profile image such as a logo or headshot, and let it be the same on all social media channels.
- Make your thumbnail visually expressive and appealing, and add elements like faces, tests, or animation.
- Type a channel description with keywords that display the brand voice and personality of your brand identity.
- Create a playlist of similar content to showcase what kind of topics you as a brand cover.
Brand equity directly impacts the sales volume and revenue your business makes. That’s because customers gravitate towards products with great branding and reputation. Coca-Cola, Apple, and KFC are all great examples of good branding. Customers subconsciously associate with these brands because of their immense branding strategy. When you brand your YouTube videos, ensure you are consistent in your efforts but don’t be afraid to experiment with new strategies.
2. Place a Call to Action (CTA)
You have a great idea. You have showcased it pitch-perfect in your YouTube videos. However, where does the viewer go from there? It is essential to give the viewer a call to action or CTA, so the viewer is sure where they have to go. Uploading a great YouTube video will certainly increase your viewership, but you must focus on getting more clicks to increase YouTube income. This will happen when there is a next step for the user. The idea is to grow the viewership, thereby increasing your YouTube revenue. Here are some tips for creating an excellent call to action:
- Create content interesting enough that the viewer is almost forced to take action.
- Place the call to action in a relevant position within or after the video depending on the flow.
- Ensure you engage your viewer and urge them to participate in exciting polls, surveys, and more.
- Use text or verbally tell your audiences to take the next course of action, such as watching your playlist, learning more about the product or services, and so on.
- Start with offering a simple “Like,” “Share,” and “Subscribe” button to your audience.
40% of viewers bounce from 2-3 minutes long videos, which means they bounce without reaching your CTA. So, placing the CTA in the beginning and leaving it there until the video ends can generate more clicks. You can also have viewers join your communities or seek donations and subscriptions at cost. These also give viewers the feeling of getting premium access to what you have to show. Conduct polls, add your full site details, add ‘closed’ captions, and more to increase engagement and revenue.
3. Be an Affiliate Marketer
If you are starting your YouTube journey and do not have any products or services to sell, start affiliate marketing in India. It is a tremendous source of making money on YouTube. Affiliate marketing helps you earn commission by selling an online retailer’s product or service on your YouTube channel. The commission is based on driving website traffic or sales generated from your referrals. Affiliate marketing is said to grow by 8.2 billion this year, and there is no reason why you should miss out on this. Here is what you need to do:
- Find a good niche for your YouTube affiliate marketing after thorough research.
- Find the best-selling products in your preferred niche and become an affiliate marketer for those products.
- Sign-up with trusted affiliate marketplaces such as Amazon associates, JVZoo, ClickBank, ShareASale, and more.
- Research how your niche products are performing in terms of sales, conversion rate, and if the product is on the top-selling list.
- Start promoting those products on your YouTube channel and earn commission based on set parameters.
Add affiliate links in the video “Description” for your audience to check out the product you are selling. You will get a commission when your viewer clicks on the link and makes purchases. However, you must have great content and the best video quality to drive audiences and clicks. There is, currently, no limitation to who you can choose as an affiliate. Any interesting site that is also into affiliate marketing can do the job for you based on shared interests and revenue models.
4. Use Sponsored Content
Professional digital marketers believe sponsored content can be a great source to communicate their brand to audiences on YouTube. Such sponsored content is called sponsored video. YouTubers and brands collaborate to promote the brand’s product, and YouTubers get paid for the promotion. This is different from affiliate marketing. In sponsored content, YouTubers get paid for talking about a brand’s product in the video. At the same time, in affiliate marketing, they earn commission only when a customer purchases using the affiliate link. Here are some tips to excel at sponsored content:
- Approach brands to sponsor your video in exchange for a shoutout or product placement.
- Be transparent about your sponsored ad. It is good for your legal health and your relationship with your audience.
- As videos are more expensive to produce, you can charge more for your YouTube content than Instagram or Facebook posts.
- Let YouTube know by ticking a box in the advanced settings tab from the video manager to show your video contains paid promotion.
- Create great quality content and drive more subscribers to attract more brands to your channel.
Sponsored videos are amongst the most popular forms of advertising. YouTubers are four times more effective at increasing brand awareness when compared to celebrities. So, you, too, can get sponsored ads as long as you have quality content and follow all the guidelines set by YouTube. For most YouTubers, sponsored content is the major source of income, so try it and increase your YouTube earnings.
5. Sell Merchandise
YouTube merchandise is another way to monetize your channel in a lucrative way. After you have a decent number of subscribers and at least 1k views on each video, you can consider selling your merch on YouTube. Constantly engaging your audiences is the key factor in selling YouTube merchandise successfully. The more the engagement, the higher the sales. Your merch should be unique, and it should represent you. For example, your most famous ending line and your brand logo can be the prompts for your product design. It will both represent and feed your audience’s connection with you. Here is how you can do it:
- Find a manufacturer and a supplier to make and deliver your products. Your suppliers should be able to take care of inventory, shipping, and returns.
- Create exclusive videos for your merchandise or mention them in your video content.
- Create a separate online store for handling purchases.
- Make sure you have a catchy phrase line and a consistent color theme with an easy-to-purchase interface.
- Add your store’s link in the video descriptions, and include end screens and cards with compelling calls to action.
- Manage your merch better with YouTube’s guidelines.
You have to be creative to keep your audiences engaged on your channel to sell your merchandise. Indulge the audience in the decision-making process of what merch should be launched. Create a poll asking them what they want. Wear or use your merch in videos. This is all your creativity. Give a shoutout to viewers who have purchased and are using them. This will encourage more audiences to buy your products and services.
6. Diversify Income Streams
Going with a straightforward method may not get you desired results. So, you can choose various complementary income streams to make money on YouTube. Charging for hosting online events, selling digital content, adding affiliate links and sponsored posts, and more are all streams you can try simultaneously. This YouTube marketing strategy will check your convincing powers. Create a need or will of the audience to show their support and love for you through their money. Here are some income stream options:
- Host live chats with super chats and ask people to contribute during the show. Give them exclusive stickers or mentions during the live streams.
- Encourage them to pay and become a member of your channel. Give them custom emojis, badges, and exclusive access to your curated programs or live chats.
- Entice your audience to become a YouTube premium member by creating unique content and giving special perks to only the exclusive YouTube premium members.
- Showcase your expertise and earn revenue by selling e-books, templates, and other digital content.
There are many methods to monetize your YouTube channel using different streams. However, you will need to constantly attract your audiences with quality and engaging video content. Take their feedback and fulfill the promises you make to your subscribers. Respond to the comments as much as possible to help your audiences without always pitching something. This will naturally urge them to support you in different ways, including funds.
7. Try CrowdFunding
While most YouTubers prefer placing ads or becoming an affiliate on their channel, some may go the crowdfunding route. Collecting donations online is trending and has become a boon to people in need. Small monthly donations can be used to build up ongoing revenue. Similarly, many YouTubers turn to crowdfunding for their channel to make money. This approach to monetizing the content will likely become more popular soon. Here are some ways to crowdfund:
- Set up a YouTube-approved crowdfunding account such as GoFundMe, Kickstarter, or Patreon.
- Set up a goal of crowdfunding. It can be buying a new laptop, phone, or mattress.
- Promote your marketing campaign in your videos and give detailed reasons and what they can expect when you have reached your goals.
- Motivate them to contribute more by offering them exclusive perks.
Though crowdfunding can be done on YouTube, you can go beyond the platform to bring in leads. A successful crowdfunding campaign is bound to be multi-platform. Use other social media sites to reach a wider audience. Do not forget to create a video after completing your goals and thanking your audiences for their support.
8. Share Video Rights
When your video content gets viral, media houses will want to get their hands on a copy to replay it for their exclusive audience. You can charge these media houses to use your content on their platform. This is amongst the best ways to make money on YouTube if you generally create viral content. You need to keep one thing in mind for the media platforms to find you. That is, be findable. Here is how you do it:
- Keep your contact details updated. People should know where to contact you. Create a simple email address you can point to for any business inquiry or collaboration.
- Sign up with Jukin Media, which is a video rights marketplace. This marketplace is great even if you don’t have any viral content. Media outlets picks up YouTube videos from Jukin Media from time to time for their platforms.
- Jukin has an entire category of ‘newsworthy’ videos that you can contribute to. For example, you can be in luck, if you have an exclusive image/video of a natural disaster, paragliding gone wrong, or a plane crash.
Though Jukin Media is a popular place, there are other options such as Big Frame, Defy Media and Visto, and more for making your content findable.
9. Join YouTube Partner Program
You can create a YouTube channel and sign up for YouTube Partner Program (YPP) once having 1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of accumulated watch time within a year. YPP will then place ads in different formats on the user’s channel, sharing the revenue. Youtube partners can access multiple income streams, from YouTube ads to YouTube premium subscription fees and features that knock on your loyal fan’s wallet like SuperChat, channel membership, and the merchandise shelf. Here are some the steps to make it work:
- Start a YouTube channel: It might seem like a lame point, but many people get stuck at this step only. Here is how you can create and set up a YouTube Channel in 4 simple steps.
- Get 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours: You need a minimum of 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours in the previous 12 months to join the program.
- Set up an AdSense account: You need to have a link to the Google AdSense account.
- Explore your other monetization features: Know the eligibility requirements for each feature. For instance:
- Ad Revenue: You must be at least 18 years old and create content following the guidelines. Digital marketers are more comfortable placing ads on YouTube channels that avoid controversies.
- Youtube premium revenue: When a premium member of YouTube watches your video, you will get a part of their subscription fee.
- Channel Memberships: You need to be at least 18 years old and have more than 30,000 subscribers to sell memberships to your audience.
- Merchandise shelf: You must be at least 18 years of age and have at least 10,000 subscribers to sell your merchandise from YouTube’s merchandise shelf.
- SuperChat Payments: You must be at least 18 and reside in an area where the feature is offered. Your subscribers get highlighted messages in the live chats and exclusive channel stickers they can use.
As a YouTube partner, you must follow not just the Youtube Partner Program Policies but also the Community Guidelines. Always stay on the right side of the copyright law.
10. Explore Other Platforms
It would be best if you had a complete digital marketing plan out of YouTube to increase your income on YouTube. You should be active on other social media networks to promote your work. When people find you on various channels, the brand recalls value increases, followed by the leads. Here are some tips for marketing your YouTube videos, channel, and products.
- If you have a blog, embed your videos on different blog posts for your viewers to know about what you are doing on YouTube.
- Post your videos on Facebook, Instagram, and other social platforms. Make sure you have a well-optimized description for each video and platform.
- Make banners interesting and tagline informative to grab people’s attention.
- Check the link before posting. Many times broken links lead to a higher bounce rate.
- Create shorts and reels for people that prefer shorter videos.
Blogging and Vlogging go hand in hand. With these tips, you can boost the traffic on your blog and your YouTube channel and significantly increase your YouTube AdSense revenue.
Conclusion
Increasing your YouTube earnings mainly depends on your creativity and the number of income streams you manage. When you plan to achieve these two things, subscribers, fans, and leads will follow. Also, take care of analytics and tracking using different tools to know what kind of videos generate more buzz. However, transparency in your approach to YouTube marketing is the most important thing. Be mindful of the activities on YouTube, including disclosure, disclaimers, and other relevant details. This will keep you in the good books of YouTube.
Apart from these, you can learn many things about YouTube to increase your earnings. Sorav Jain’s YouTube Mastery Course is your best bet to know almost everything about YouTube and coin up on your channel.
