How to Make Money Off Youtube Without Having a Million Subscribers
If you’re just starting out on YouTube, you might be anxious and overwhelmed about the whole creative process. How do you get started? How do you get an audience of millions to engage with your content? Most importantly, how do you eventually make money off your YouTube channel?
Maybe the last question might not have popped in your head just yet, but at some point, you might want to give it some thought. Even if making money isn’t your intention for starting out your channel, you will come to realize that money is one essential aspect of your YouTube channel you cannot afford to ignore. Getting paid for creating might be a catalyst for producing more top quality content. There is just this satisfaction you derive from making money off your hobby/passion. We’re here to teach you some of the most essential tips you need to know regarding the monetization of your YouTube channel.
So how about we start right off the bat with a question we know you’ve been dying so much to ask.
Do I Need a Million Subscribers to Make Money From My Channel?
The popular misconception is that you need millions of followers before you can make any money from YouTube. Quite surprisingly, this isn’t exactly the truth as you can make money from your YouTube page without having an audience of millions of viewers or subscribers. Making money through your audience is just one of the ways of making money through your YouTube channel. There are lots of other ways to make money on your YouTube channel.
In fact, the relationship between your audience and monetization has not always been direct. What better way to prove this than with the stats. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest names on YouTube.
Ryan’s world has fewer subscribers than Dude Perfect, yet they make 22 million dollars — 2 million dollars more than Dude Perfect. Wow right! So you see, the monetization-audience link is not as direct as you think.
What Do I Need to Make Money From My YouTube Channel?
Making money on your YouTube channel begins with understanding some basic things about the platform. What better way to begin than understanding how those before you did it and how you can do it too.
Learn from your influences: Check out those who make the most from YouTube
Cultivate a habit of subscribing to your favorite YouTube channels and following their updates. Can you identify what they’re doing right? Who do they do? How do you think they rake in their profits?
Understanding some basic things about YouTube
Here are a few things you should know about your YouTube channel:
Uploading videos
YouTube is not exactly a default haven for raking cash into the bag. Most YouTubers, like you, create their content for the love of it, but if you want to up your game to the next level, you can do that by changing the settings on your YouTube account.
Here’s how to go about it:
● Go to your YouTube account settings
● Enable monetization
● If you so desire, you can further upgrade your plan by joining YouTube’s Partner Program. If you do, your videos will be added to the YouTube Premium list.
Other cool and easy ways to make money on YouTube
1. Engage in fan and crowdfunding
Yes, fan funding is different from crowdfunding. Fan funding is getting donations from your fans for the value you create. Your fans want to see you every week so it is only fair that they give you some sort of donation to support your work. And you can bless them with even more interesting content on your channel.
Crowdfunding, on the other hand, involves gathering funds to execute your next big project. The funds you will receive in this case should go into dropping that next big thing that will blow the minds of everyone that contributed to the funding.
Don’t be shy to ask for help from your audience when you need it. Art needs money to survive. And as long as you offer value, you’ve earned the right to make that request.
2. Widen your reach through influencers
Don’t just sit there and expect the world to stumble on your content. Get out there. Now that you can make money from the rate at which people watch your content, why not improve your fan base by using influencers in your niche industry.
If you can, share the link on numerous social media websites to targeted demography, please do — and advise your fans to do the same.
3. License your content
Let’s say you create a comedy skit or make a video of dancing kangaroos and you upload it on your YouTube channel. If it appeals to a news site or a geography tv station, you can make money from it.
If your video becomes high demand, the best thing to do is to license it to any media house of your choice. Odds are it has generated enough interest to have folks pay to get their hands on it.
4. Sell your products on YouTube
Selling your products via your YouTube channel is a very wise approach towards making money via your YouTube channel. Doesn’t it sound good to you making some money creating valuable content and also selling your product at the same time? It’s a win-win.
Should you have any product you can sell, you might want to consider introducing it to your YouTube audience. You can always include the link to your sales page in the description directly below your video and have those new customers roll in in no time.
Rake in your first million from YouTube
Whatever the reason for starting up your YouTube channel, either strictly for the purpose of creating or you want to know the feeling of offering value and engaging with an audience, keep it at the back of your mind that you can make money from your channel. Creative individuals like you rarely do what they do for the money, but the truth is, there is no better reward than getting paid to do what you love.