- I'm gonna share with you the eight most common ways
that content creators make money on YouTube,
because a lot of people think that YouTube ads
and super chats and memberships and all that stuff
is how people make money on YouTube.
But I'm here to tell you there are actually
a lot of ways that people make money.
So I'm gonna tell you what each one is,
and I'm going to explain it to you.
So by the time you're finished with this video,
you can walk away knowing different ways
that you can start making money right away.
And as we get into it, I wanna thank Uscreen
for sponsoring this video.
If you're not familiar with Uscreen,
Uscreen is a platform that allows
content creators to sell their videos online
and build their own membership site
with a Netflix-like look and feel.
Uscreen customers are from a variety
of industries and backgrounds, from fitness studios,
education, news, music teachers,
vloggers, kids entertainment,
and anybody that wants to make money from their content,
they can do it with Uscreen.
As a Uscreen user, you can sell memberships
for your streaming service, rent videos out,
or even live stream with a paywall
via their website or their own white labeled apps.
Uscreen is the platform for building a membership
that generates a sustainable
and predictable revenue stream for content creators.
To check out Uscreen for yourself,
go to uscreen.tv or of course,
I've got a link down in the description below.
So check out Uscreen when you're finished with this video,
because they even have a free trial available
where you can take it for a test run.
But when it comes to making money from your YouTube channel,
the very first option that is a great start
for content creators is affiliate marketing.
If you're not familiar with affiliate marketing,
affiliate marketing is where you sign up
for an affiliate program and you can find affiliate programs
by searching for the type of content that you make
and then just putting the words
"affiliate program" after it.
And then you sign up for the affiliate programs
that are a good fit for what it is
that you're trying to do with your YouTube channel.
They would add value to your audience.
And of course, it just makes sense
with the type of content that you make.
And then they'll give you a unique tracking ID
that you put in your video description.
And when you recommend that product or service,
and people click on that link and go make a purchase,
you get a commission
for sending them there through your link.
A few quick tips for you if you decide
to use affiliate marketing for one of the ways
that you're gonna monetize your content,
the first tip is make sure that the thing
that you are bringing attention to
is a great fit for your audience,
because if you don't, then people aren't gonna click it.
Nobody's gonna buy anything,
and it's gonna be a waste of your time
if it's not a good fit for the type of content you make.
Next is make sure that you consider viewer intent.
What that means is if somebody's looking for a review video
on a particular product and they hop on YouTube
and they're searching for something about that product,
that person knows about the product,
and there's a really good chance they're watching a review,
because they're considering making a purchase.
So if you make that type of content
as an affiliate marketer,
you're going to get higher conversions
because you're essentially hopping in between
the person considering making the purchase,
watching your video,
and then them actually making the purchase.
Another tip is if possible,
if you do find things that are recurring,
which means people pay for them every month,
then your affiliate income can balloon relatively quickly.
And the reason for that is instead of just sending
one sale at a time, your recurring memberships
will end up stacking up over time,
because the longer people stay a part of whatever it is
that you're bringing to their attention,
then the longer they're paying into it,
which means that instead of sending
let's say a $10 sale one time,
if that person stays a member for a whole year,
then instead of $10, you're making 120.
And the next tip for affiliate marketing of course
is make sure that everything
that you're recommending is stuff that you stand behind.
And the reason for that is because
if you're recommending things that don't work
or they're garbage or whatever the thing is,
then people aren't going to take
your recommendations anymore.
Whereas if you're recommending things
and people are like, "Wow, this is great."
And hey, they recommended this and it's also great,
then they're gonna keep coming back to you,
and they're going to end up
continuing to take your recommendations,
which is gonna make you a lot more money long term.
Next on this list is merchandise.
Now, when it comes to merchandise,
a lot of content creators are timid
about offering merchandise
because they think nobody will buy it
or that it's not worth the effort.
I can tell you that it is worth the effort,
and I can tell you that people do indeed buy merch.
When it comes to merch,
you can use an outlet like Spreadshop
where all you have to do is have a graphic made
or you can create your own graphics
through a site like canva.com.
And then you upload your graphics into Spreadshop,
and then when somebody buys whatever merch
you have available with that graphic on it,
then you get a commission.
And when it comes to merch, a lot of content creators think
that you have to be in the YouTube partner program
to use it because of the list that you see
underneath the videos where they're selling merch.
However, you can create a store on Spreadshop,
grab the link to your store,
and then just drop that in your video description,
let everybody know that you have a link
in your description to your store.
It's that easy.
In fact, I've got a link to mine down there too,
if you wanna check that out.
Next on the list is crowdfunding.
So with crowdfunding, what you do is you set up an account
at some place like Buy Me a Coffee or a Ko-fi or Patreon.
And technically, you can use Uscreen
as a part of this as well.
But you set up your account for one of these places,
and depending on which one you use,
it's kind of like a tip jar.
If you're going with Buy Me A Coffee or a Ko-fi,
or if you want to offer some additional content in exchange,
or some additional access to you or something like that,
that's where you would use Patreon or Uscreen.
With all of these services, with the exception of Uscreen,
they are free with the exception
of taking a percentage of the income-generated
from those particular platforms,
where with Uscreen, you pay a flat fee
and you can make mountains of money,
and it's okay because you're still
just paying that flat fee.
Next on the list is digital product.
So with a digital product, what that is
is that's something that you would make
on your computer or on your phone,
and then you make that available
for sale somewhere online.
Depending on the type of content you put out,
in some cases, it could be guides
that you make available for sale.
It could be eBooks that you make available for sale.
It could be videos that you make available for sale
in like a course-like format and you could put 'em
on Uscreen as an example.
And you can even get creative with it.
For example, I made a digital content planner for iPads
that I have available on the internet as well,
and people buy that.
Another thing you could do on the digital product side
is you can create a newsletter for your industry
that people actually pay for,
or you can combine affiliate marketing
with your newsletter and actually promote products
as well as give people value through your email newsletter.
The great thing about digital products
is that you can create them.
And depending on what it is that you create,
you may or may not need to ever update it again.
So you can create it once,
and you can make money on it forever.
But in some cases of course, you will need to update it
from time to time or maybe even on a regular basis.
But the idea is once you create it
and you get the bulk of the project done,
then all you have to do is find different ways to sell it.
You can do it through your YouTube channel,
you can do it through advertising,
you can do it in any way that you want to,
but the idea is that you can just create something
that is of value to other people,
and then you can sell it online.
And of course, an easy way to sell it online
is through the content that you're already making
on your YouTube channel.
Next on the list, we have services.
So when it comes to services,
this is where you have to lean on your skill set.
So I know that everybody watching this,
everybody makes different types of content.
So what you have to think about when it comes to services
is you have to think about either past life experience
that you have that you would be able to offer as a service,
or you can think about the skills that you've developed
as a content creator that you can also offer
as a service as well.
For example, almost everybody watching
this video right now makes videos.
So because of that, you're going through the process,
or you already have a really good understanding
of the process of editing videos.
Therefore, that could be a service.
But you gotta make sure that your audience
is a good fit for that service.
However, with a lot of types of content,
you can offer some type of consulting,
or where you can hop on calls with people
and give them advice based on your experience
in the industry that you're operating in.
And you might be thinking to yourself,
"Hey, Nick, with the type of content that I make,
there's no way that anybody would pay
for any type of consulting or anything for it."
But keep in mind, you might be thinking that
because you already have a good understanding
of what it is that you're doing.
That's why you're making videos about it.
But in every industry, regardless of how many veterans
or knowledgeable people are in that industry,
there's still new people coming into it all the time.
And in that situation, people always have the choice
of taking the time to learn the thing on their own
or short cutting that process
by spending a little bit of money.
So in that case, you can be that person
that they spend that money with
for the people that are willing or wanting
to spend money to shortcut their learning curve.
Next on the list is sponsorship.
So like I mentioned before,
this video is brought to you by Uscreen.
So just like this video is sponsored by Uscreen,
you can also have people sponsor
the content that you make as well.
For this, you are going to have a lot more doors
open for you if you do have some type
of consistent view count,
and your channel's heading the right way,
and you're building your brand
and all of those types of things.
But some people, depending on your business savvy
and all of that, some people can get sponsorships
very early in their YouTube journey.
And look, at the very least, if you're not quite there yet
to where you're comfortable reaching out to a company
because you're not sure of the value
that you can bring to them,
go ahead and start interacting with them on social media.
And anytime you make a video that happens to mention
their product anyway, go ahead and just tweet at them
and let them know that you've made that video.
Same thing with LinkedIn.
Make sure that you are putting
any of that content on LinkedIn as well,
that you're following and connecting
with all of the people that work at all the companies
that you're wanting to work with in the future.
And by doing this, as your influence grows,
then you are going to be bringing that
to their attention as well.
And you're at least gonna be on their radar
when they are looking for influencers to work with.
Next on the list is physical products.
Now, when it comes to physical products,
technically, merch could fall under this,
but you can also do things like write books.
My friends on YouTube, they write books,
and people buy these all the time,
because they're value-packed, right?
They add tons of value to the people that read them.
And these are physical products.
So how these work is you upload your book to Amazon,
and when people actually order it,
then Amazon prints it and sends it out to people.
So then it becomes a physical product.
And of course, you can work with people
to actually get these onto bookshelves as well.
When it comes to physical products,
you also have cool things like the SwitchPod
made by Pat Flynn,
or any other thing that you can possibly think of.
But keep in mind, with all of these types of things,
with the exception of the Amazon and the merch,
they will cost money.
I mean, you can't just upload this to the internet
and then they print it when somebody needs it.
We're not quite there yet,
but hopefully, we'll be there soon.
But the idea with physical products
is they are tangible things
that people can actually hold in their hands.
And one other option that you would have as well
when it comes to physical products if you would like
is you could look into white labeling,
which is where you take another product,
you put your brand name on it,
and then you would be able to sell it
through your YouTube channel that way.
And then there's content licensing.
So when it comes to content licensing
this is one people don't usually talk about a lot
when it comes to YouTube content creators,
but depending on the type of content that you make,
it's also possible that people
will pay you to license your content.
What that means is that they will give you
a certain amount of money in order to be able to use
your content in places like TV shows, in commercials,
in anything that people need your type of content for.
Now, you might be thinking yourself,
this is all great, but how do I come up with ideas
on things that would actually work
for the type of content that I make?
I made a video showing you how to start a channel
and monetize that YouTube channel.
And in that video, we talk about researching other people
in the type of content that you make
to uncover exactly what it is
that they are going to monetize.
So you can use proof of concept to see exactly
what's working for your type of content.
Click into that video right here,
and I will see you over there.
Thank you so much for watching.
I'll see you over there.