How to Earn Money from YouTube? A Step-By-Step Guide

I’m sure you probably already know that YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine and it gets over 30 million visitors per day.

But did you know that a large number of regular people make millions of dollars from YouTube.  Here is a table that reveals how some of the most famous Youtubers make money (thousands of dollars) from You Tube, every month.

I’m sure you’re wondering, “How do they make money from YouTube?”

Here’s the deal:

Most people that drive a torrent of traffic to their YouTube channels and make decent money do two things very well:

First, they create engaging video content that resonates well with their audiences generating attention, engagement, conversation and recognition making YouTube searchers glued to their channel.

Second, they smartly use expert tips, tricks and advices to keep multiplying their earnings from YouTube manifolds.

So if you too want to make money from YouTube, you’re in the right place. In this post, I’ll reveal the exact step-by-step process to make money from YouTube.

Here’s what you’re going to learn:

Let’s dive right in. Shall we?

1. Create Your YouTube Channel

The very first step to start making money from YouTube is to create a YouTube Channel of your own.  Creating a YouTube channel is a fairly simpler process and just takes a few minutes and a few clicks.

Here’s a simple to understand 3-step guide to creating YouTube Channel:

Step 1: Sign in to YouTube using your Google username and password. Upon successful login, you’ll see the main YouTube home screen.

Step 2: Once on YouTube home screen, click on your account profile picture. It’ll reveal the Google Account Menu on the top-right corner of the screen. Once there, click on ‘My Channel’ and then click on ‘Create your YouTube Channel’. Then, click on ‘Edit’ link to customize your profile.

Step 3: Click on ‘Activities you’ll share on your channel.’  You will see four options – ‘Like a video,’ ‘Comment on a video,’ ‘Favorite a video,’ and ‘Subscribe to a channel.’ Depending upon what you want people on your YouTube Channel to do, add a Checkmark to one or all the four check boxes. Now, click on the ‘OK, I’m Ready to Continue’.  That’s it; your YouTube Channel has been created.

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Bonus Tip: Find a unique name for your channel and add description for it. Instead of the default YouTube URL, you must create a custom YouTube URL in order to more organic search visibility. But be advised, YouTube stipulates a certain requirements for creating a custom URL and you will need to fulfill those requirements in order to get a custom URL and increase your search visibility.

So now you have created a Youtube channel, now what? How would you put it to use and start making money?

Well, check out the next step…

2. Select A Niche for Your YouTube Channel

Probably, the second most important step towards earning money from YouTube is to find a niche for your YouTube Channel. Choosing a niche is one of the toughest jobs and requires tremendous efforts.

So before you jump guns, you must carefully mull over how to make it unique in order to stand out from the crowd on YouTube.

Research whether your preferred niche would help you make money or not. Find out about people who are already making money from YouTube in your preferred niche. If you find such people, reach out to them for guidance.

Check whether your preferred niche is already saturated or not. Remember, if you choose a niche that’s already saturated, you will need to really work very hard to make your channel stand out.

Remember, your niche should be something of your Interest, something that you have complete knowledge about, something that can help you grab many eyeballs and something that could be monetized.

Here are three points to help you select a niche and start making money from your YouTube channel:

Point #1: Think: what do people know you for? Experts suggest you to select a niche for which you are an expert. Make a laundry list of things you’re really good at. Include everything that people come to you for help with. Don’t forget to add things that only you know you’re awesome at. Making this list will help you recognise the niche that can help you earn a lot of money from YouTube.

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Point #2: Carefully mull over your talent that have earned you enough praises from friends and family. May be you’re a good singer, may be you dance well or maybe you’re an awesome mimic. Think what talent of yours can help you grab many eyeballs on YouTube.

Point #3:Let’s face it; many people amongst us love to listen to music, watch movies or read good books. Do you love this too? Well, if you are nodding your head in a yes, you have already found a niche for your YouTube channel. Become a YouTube reviewer. Shoot videos about review of movies, books or a music album.

Bonus Tip: Try building credibility in a specific niche. Don’t pick up too many niches and start too many YouTube channels. It becomes a lot easier to make money from YouTube, if you have a specific niche. By making video content around the same topic or subject, you’ll ensure getting legit, amazing subscribers, who will look up to you as an expert.

Let’s now move on to know how to create a content strategy for your YouTube channel.

3. Create YouTube Content Strategy

Content is king. And it is nowhere truer than on YouTube.  Remember, 74% of all internet traffic will be video by 2017. And if your video content isn’t really able to get your target audiences involved, and create a more personalized and memorable experience for them, you will be left far behind your competitors.

Successful Youtubers, who get a lot of subscribers and views, are really careful of putting up video content that resonates well with their target audiences. I’m sure you’re wondering, ‘How do I create such compelling, engaging content that helps me make thousands of dollars from YouTube?’

Don’t worry; we have done the hard work for you! Check out these 3 easy-to-follow tips to create compelling content strategy for your YouTube channel.

Tip #1: Remember, everyone is trying to capture the attention of users on YouTube and in order to stand out from the crowd; you’ll need to make sure that your content is engaging, catchy, inspiring and shareable, in equal measures. You’ll need to present your content as a story because without telling a story you can’t make your video worth watching. Remember, longer people will watch your video, the better you’ll rank on YouTube.

Tip #2: Don’t forget to add to keywords in the description and transcript of the video that you’re putting up on YouTube. Research what kind of content your competition is putting up and try to beat it in terms of quality and other important aspects.

Tip #3: Decide on your content goals, way ahead of time. Decide what your objective of putting up video content on your YouTube channel is? Do you want more views, more subscribers or more traffic? Once you have figured out what you want, do well to create your content accordingly.

Bonus Tip: Always create your YouTube content strategy keeping your target audiences in mind. Before making your videos, do well to create a content plan to make sure that your content meets your goals and also engages your intended audience. Get to know what your audiences like, what they don’t like and what they need. Never settle down for low quality video content. Remember, high quality HD videos rank better on the first page of YouTube’s Search Results. In fact, 68.2% of all videos on first page of YouTube are HD.

Here’s the formula of engaging content to help you make money from YouTube.

Your Target Audiences Interest + Your Subject Expertise + Great Video Quality = Amazing YouTube Video.

4. Develop YouTube SEO Strategy

Now that you know about creating YouTube channel, finding your niche and creating your content strategy, it’s time to get acquainted to some easy-to-follow SEO tips to make your YouTube videos rank higher.

I’m sure you’re thinking that YouTube SEO tips are available dime a dozen. So what is so special about the tips that I’m going to throw your way?

Well, let me spill the beans here, the tips that I’m going to discuss are guaranteed way to make your videos rank higher on YouTube.

Tip #1: Make longer videos, at least 5 minutes long. Why? This is because longer videos outperform short videos on YouTube. You’ll be surprised to know that the average length of videos that rank on the first page of YouTube is 14 minutes, 50 seconds.

Tip #2: Find your video keywords. Choose the keywords that get at least 300 searches per month. Ensure Keyword-optimized titles and video filename to rank higher on YouTube SERPs. Though the impact is not that great, using target keyword in your video title can help you rank for that keyword. Do well to include an exact keyword in your video title because it impacts your video’s ranking.

Tip #3: Use keyword-rich Meta tags to make your videos rank higher on YouTube.  Including your target keywords and by using descriptive tags can help you rank better on YouTube. Though some experts believe that the overall impact of using keyword-rich tags is small, it makes sense to use them to YouTube understand the context and content of video.

Bonus Tip: I advise you to use closed caption and subtitles feature of YouTube. Remember, search engine “spiders” crawl captions. Using subtitles and closed captions help more people access your content, thereby increasing its credibility.

Now that you are done with your SEO strategy, it’s time to get acquainted to the ways to monetize your YouTube Videos.

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5. Monetize Your YouTube Videos

Monetizing your YouTube channel is no rocket science and you can do it easily. But in order to monetize your videos, you must have commercial rights to your video and you videos must abide by the rules stipulated by YouTube’s copyright policies. In addition, your videos must comply with YouTube’s Terms of Service and Community Guidelines.

Follow these easy steps to enable monetization:

1. Log-in to your YouTube channel.
2. Go to ‘Settings’ and select ‘Enable Monetization.’
3. Once you have enabled monetization, add your AdSense account to your YouTube channel.

Now that you are ready to monetize your YouTube videos, let’s look at 3 unique ways you can do so:

1. Advertising: By far the best and easiest way to make money from YouTube, advertising helps you earn you a sizeable amount of money. All you need to do is to link your YouTube channel with Adsense and allow ads on your videos. For every view, you get 55% of the total ad revenue by YouTube. This usually translates to $1-$2 for 1000 views on an average.
2. Affiliate Marketing: A large number of agencies and brands pay a sizeable amount of money to popular YouTube channels for linking their products in video descriptions. Reach out to a bigger brand or some marketing agency, looking for an affiliate, and strike a deal to be paid for every conversion they get from your video. Usually, YouTubers earn somewhere between $100 and $1000 for every conversion made through their videos.
3. Sponsorship: Collaborate with big brands and showcase their products and services in your videos. In exchange, you may get paid a certain amount. Usually, this amount varies between $500 and 2000.  You may charge an even higher amount, depending upon the popularity of your YouTube Channel.

Still got questions about how to make money from YouTube, check out these Frequently Asked Questions to get your doubts cleared:

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How to Make Money From YouTube? FAQs

Question 1: How to monetize by YouTube videos?

Answer: It is simple to start monetizing your YouTube videos. In order to monetize your channel, you will need to become a YouTube Partner.

Here is how you can do it:

1. Login to your YouTube Channel, and go to ‘Video Manager’.
2. Select the video where you want to ads to be placed.
3. Press the “$” icon right next to that video.
4. Now, check the “Monetize my video” box.
5. Select the ad formats.
6. Click “Save Changes”.

That’s it! You’re done monetizing your YouTube video.

Question 2: How do I optimize my YouTube videos for better ranking?

Answer: There are many easy ways to optimize your YouTube videos for better SERP ranking. Here are some easy ways:

1. Use keyword-rich Metadata.
2. Use Keyword optimized titles and descriptions.
3. Use long videos.
4. Ensure high-quality of videos.
5. Use keyword-rich tags.

Question 3: How do I get more ‘Views’ & ‘Subscriptions’ for my YouTube Page?

Answer: It is very important to get ‘Views’ and ‘Subscriptions’ if you are looking to make money from your YouTube channel. In order to maximize views and subscriptions, you may:

1. Embed your YouTube videos on your website.
2. Promote your YouTube videos on social media.
3. Ensure links to your YouTube videos in your emails.
4. Respond to any comments or query quickly and communicate with your YouTube followers.
5. Add a YouTube community button to your website, and Social media channels.

Question 4: What kind of video content can I monetize?

Answer: In order to monetize your video content, you need to acquire all rights and copyright license for the content, in entirety.  Also, remember the guidelines for content you wish to monetize:

1. Follow YouTube Community Guidelines.
2. Own rights for the commercial use of all elements of your video.
3. Keep your video content advertiser-friendly to get more ads.

Question 5: Where can I see how much money I have made from YouTube?

Answer: In order to check how much money you have made from YouTube, you will need to check your AdSense reports.

Here’s What You Should Do Next…

So there you have it – step-by-step guide to make money from YouTube. Go ahead, put this learning into practice and start making money like other popular YouTubers.

Now I’d like to hear from you:

Which step was most surprising to you? Or maybe you have a question.

Either way, leave a quick comment below right now.