How to Monetize and Promote Your YouTube Channel
YouTube is half the internet with around 1 billion users all over the world and it is one of the platforms on which you can make money online. Monetizing your YouTube channel is not as easy as it looks and yet not as hard as it sounds as long as you know the way. Many think YouTube pays users directly based on how many subscribers they have, but that is not true. YouTube does not pay anyone.
Nonetheless, despite YouTube not paying users, do you know you can still earn? There are multiple ways to monetize and promote your YouTube channel and we will be talking about some of them in this article.
- Become a YouTube partner: YouTube creates an avenue for users to partner with it and this is one of the ways YouTube users make profit. By partnering with YouTube, you have access to various sources of income, including ads and premium subscriptions from your subscribers’ wallet. To become a YouTube partner follow these steps:
- Create a channel
- Make sure your channel is fit enough to meet up with YouTube partnership requirements: you need a minimum of 1,000 subscribers and at least 4,000 views in the last 12 months
- Set up an AdSense account, explore your monetization features as each monetization has different features and requirements. Here are some of them from Hootsuite:
”Ad revenue: to earn ad revenue, you must be at least 18 years old, and you must create content that is advertiser-friendly. Basically, the less controversial your videos, the more YouTube advertisers will be comfortable running ads on them, and the more money you make.
YouTube Premium revenue: if a YouTube Premium member watches your video, you get a portion of their subscription fee. This one is automatic, and it’s quite nice.)
Channel memberships: in order to sell channel memberships to your subscribers (i.e., your fans opt in to pay you an extra amount), you need to be at least 18 and have more than 30,000 subscribers.
Merchandise shelf: in order to sell merch from YouTube’s merchandise shelf, you must be at least 18 years old, and have at least 10,000 subscribers.
Super Chat payments: if you want your fans to have the ability to pay to have their messages highlighted in your live chats during your live streams, you must be at least 18 (and live in a country where the feature is offered).
Submit to ongoing review: YouTube holds your channel in high esteem as a partner, and to that end, you must see to it that you comply with the rules of the community including copyright rules.
- Sell your merchandise: whether you are an entrepreneur or a content creator, you have to sell something. You could be a content creator and still be an entrepreneur or vice versa, no law is stopping you. Toyin Abraham is a content creator and she still sells wigs. No law holds you down. Below are some steps from Hootsuite on how to sell your merchandise:
” 1. Imagine and design your product: Merchandise for your channel is meant to both represent and feed your audience’s connection with you. That means your merch should be unique. Hawaiian YouTube star Ryan Higa launched his milk-based energy drink Ninja Melk to leverage the popularity of his viral comedy, Ninja Melk. While he also sells t-shirts and other merch from his online shop, Ninja Melk’s appeal is broad enough it has its own website.
Pro tip: You might have more ideas for merch than you can possibly stock. So start by dipping your toes in the water with one or two items. But make sure you engage your audience in the decision-making process. Poll them as to what they want. Or build buzz by offering one-off products related to big subscriber-count milestones.
- Source and/or build your product: In most cases, you’ll need a manufacturer, supplier or wholesaler to make and deliver your product. Some suppliers will deliver it to you, and some will spare you the headaches of inventory, shipping and returns by handling it themselves. If you’re not sure where to start, check out Shopify’s how-to on the topic of finding a brick-and-mortar company to make your dream a reality.
- Create your shop and landing page: You’ll need a separate website to handle purchases. If you want to link it directly from your videos (and you do), refer to YouTube’s list of approved merchandise sites.
- Enable your YouTube Partner merchandise shelf :YouTube Partners can also use the shelf feature to sell their channel’s merchandise. If you’re eligible, follow YouTube’s instructions to enable it.
- Promote your product in your videos: This is where your charm comes in. Wear or use your merch in your videos. Feature viewers who have bought and are using it. (If we were on another platform, we might call this ‘user-generated content,’ or possibly ‘solid gold’). And don’t forget to add your store’s link to your video descriptions, and include end screens and cards with compelling calls to action.”
Read Also: 4 Instagram Tips you should follow for Driving Traffic to Your Blog
- Make your fans pay you: this strategy works but you have to make it worth the while of your fans such that they will deem it fit to use their debit card for you. This is quite achievable through super chat.
Super chat is a feature available to only YouTube Partners which enables them to communicate with their fans. You could also encourage your fans to become channel members. In return, they get customized emojis, bands and also chances to engage in a live chat with you. Another method to achieve this is to convince your fans to become premium members on YouTube, so when they watch your channel, you get a cut of their subscription fee.
- Licensing your video to the media: this is what Paige Cooper has to say ” When a video goes viral, every news outlet wants to get their hands on a copy in order to replay it for their audience. Fortunately, established media companies are well aware that they need to pay for what they use. And voila, you’ve got yourself another way to make money on YouTube.
As a content creator, licensing your most successful work to the media can be as simple as making sure you’re easy to find.”. This can be done by updating your details on your about page and or signing up to a video rights market place.
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