How to Make Money on YouTube – 9 Effective Ways

Presently YouTube has become the number one social media platform for generating money and making a living.

According to stats, an average YouTuber with 1 million subscribers earns $60,000 annually. That's a lot of money. Moreover, YouTube will have more than 2.29 billion monthly active users in 2022, and users watch over a billion hours of video on YouTube.

So, there is no doubt that if you invest time and energy in it, you can generate tons of money from YouTube. Now, you need to know the process of how you, as a YouTube creator, will achieve that goal.

In this article, we will share the nine effective ways by which you'll be able to make good money from YouTube.

How to Make Money on YouTube?

Nowadays, everyone has got the talent and skills to make top-class videos. But you need to know the audience and how the whole YouTube system works while having the skills. 

When you know how to make money on YouTube, monetizing your channel as a creator will be very easy. Additionally, it will provide full insights into the revenue-making ideas that other content creators are adopting.

So, here are those ways.

9 Ways to Make Money on YouTube?

1. Advertising Earning:

You know that Google acquired YouTube in 2009 and owns this platform 100%. So, they have made it easy for every user to apply Google AdSense and display ads on videos.

Now the ads displayed on your videos are not in your control. The type of ads your audience will see depends on the audience's web browsing history. This is why people keep seeing only those ads they searched for on the internet.

Though applying for Google AdSense and monetizing your YouTube channel seems to be a very easy process. But in reality, it is not. According to Business Insider, for every thousand advertising views, advertisers pay a certain price to YouTube. 
After that, YouTube keeps 45% of that rate and pays the rest, 55% of the money, to the creators.

Also, there are lots of guidelines that a creator must follow. Such as:

There are many rules like this that every creator has to follow. Therefore, there are better ways to make money from YouTube than advertising earnings. 

Let's see some other ways.

2. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to generate good money from YouTube. It is a process where you promote a third-party company's product, and when a customer buys products from you, you get a commission from that company.

Though there is another best way to do Affiliate Marketing, which is through blogs; here are why YouTube is best for doing affiliate marketing:

So, if you create product review videos and share those affiliate links in your video description area, you can easily generate affiliate sales and make money. 

Moreover, in some specific niches like WordPress hosting, WordPress theme YouTube videos have more conversions than text-based content.

As far as affiliate marketing is concerned, a dedicated YouTube channel along with a blog can provide real success at the present moment.

3. Become a YouTube Partner and Earn

Being a YouTube partner is also one of the best economical ways to earn money. First, you must monetize your videos and divide the advertising income with YouTube.

To join the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), there are a few criteria you have to keep in mind. 

According to YouTube Creators, to be eligible for the YPP,

When you become a YouTube Partner, you get a detailed analytic map about your audience and their clicking on ads.

Benefits of Joining the YouTube Partner Program:

Here are some benefits of becoming a YP:

4. Sell Merchandise

Once you have a great audience base, meaning when you have thousands to millions of followers and subscribers, selling merchandise becomes the best way to generate money.

When you have a bigger audience base, your brand stands out, and your fans are also a big part of your brand. 

Now, if you create your products and sell them, your fans will be happy to buy and use them. Those products will also make them feel they are a part of your group. 

Therefore, you must create your own products with your brand's name. For example, you can create t-shirts, cups, mugs, bags, etc., and sell those. It will provide a good income. 

Even some YouTube influencers state that selling merchandise generates more income than AdSense earning. And this earning depends on your most die-hard fans. 

To create merchandise, you must follow these steps:

• Design the Products: Design products that are attractive, valuable, and in demand. Then your products will be easily scalable.
• Build Your Online Store: You must have a customer-friendly online store with a secure payment system.
• Do Marketing: Show your products in the videos. Share the cool features of the products. Then, link your store to the video description area and use the call to action.

5. Sell Related Products

When you become a successful YouTuber, you start earning passively. You upload your videos, and your subscribers do the rest. And, because of that audience reaches, your brand and you as a person get so much name and fame.

You can then adopt a few more strategies to generate more income sources. Such as:

For example, if you become a successful YouTuber with millions of subscribers, you can create and sell courses on

Your audience will be happy to purchase courses from you as you already have become a trusted and authentic person to them.

6. Sponsored Content, Endorsements, and Product Placement

Sponsorship and endorsements are very common nowadays. Everyone is adopting this strategy, from small YouTubers to small entrepreneurs, as a new earning source. 

When you build a huge active audience base, many companies will be ready to promote their products through your YouTube channel. In this process, the brands approach you to promote their products on your videos, or you can personally approach them.

Types of sponsorships on YouTube:

Also, negotiation plays a great role in getting a good deal for a sponsorship post. However, your rate depends on your subscribers, viewers, and content quality.

7. Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a campaign to raise money from many audiences to fund a project or start-up. Startup companies commonly use crowdfunding. Also, it is used for personal reasons.

As crowdfunding becomes a great model for arranging funds, so adopting this strategy as a YouTube creator is a small thing. But, to get support from your audience, you must build a loyal audience. Then, you can utilize the power of fan following.

In this process, people go to a certain page of a website and donate money. A few best crowdfunding platforms are:

Among those, Patreon is the best for YouTube creators like you.

8. Paid Subscribers

When you publish mind-blowing and problem-solving content and become one of those top-rated YouTube content creators within your industry, you can create premium content only for those paid subscribers.

Yes, this strategy will not apply to beginners or intermediate creators but to those who already have become verified creators with loyal audiences.

Also, it depends on your audience because if you target an audience from a weak financial country, you will not get a single penny. The reason is YouTube is a free platform. 

Most of the content on YouTube is free. So, why will users pay for the videos? It makes no sense to them. 

9 Join a Multi-Channel Network

Last but not least, MCN is a way to make money when you already have a successful YouTube channel.

MCN stands for Multi-Channel Network. MCNs are third-party private companies that partner with multiple creators and YouTube channels and offer services to grow their channels. 

They offer services like:

In that process, creators sign up with an MCN and enter the MCN into the system. 

The best thing about Multi-Channel Networks is that they are directly connected to the backend CMS i.e., the Content Management System of YouTube. 

Therefore, they can use different tools and analytics that are not attainable to independent creators. Naturally, it helps creators to grow their channels. 

However, those companies might not be authentic. You may need to read their terms and conditions to avoid problems.  So to avoid scamming, read the contract of those MCN companies. 

Conclusion

So, you can understand that you can make money on YouTube and have a very successful career. But it depends on how creative you are and how much energy you invest in it.

Remember that you can only apply most of the strategies once or if you have a broader and more loyal audience. You need many users to make a good income only from Google AdSense.

As a final point, your quality content and audience engagement play a key role in growing your channel. When you grow numerous subscribers, many income ways start knocking on your door.