How to Convert Content into Cash with YouTube – A Complete Handbook
Earning money with YouTube is an art, and people who know this art are the self-made celebrities of social media including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you are able to generate an audience by launching creative content targeted towards entertainment, news, reviews, or for the purpose of education, then you can make hefty amount of money as well.
Believe me if you know the tricks this not that difficult to achieve, thousands of YouTubers are already doing it successfully. In fact, according to recent studies, these people are earning in tens of millions.
Here are some examples:
EpicMealTime – earns more than $3 million with 7 million subscribers
Ray William Johnson – earns more than $4 million with 10 million subscribers
FunToyzCollector – earns more than $30 million with just 8 million subscribers
Don’t think you can’t earn even if you have smaller channels. Having more views and subscribers is not the only thing that will help you generate cash inflow, more important will be your level of engagement and your niche.
Before start making and posting videos on YouTube, it is crucial to understand the needs of your audience.
Getting to Know Audience Demographics
Building your own audience puts you in a great position to monetize in a variety of ways. But you’ll only be able to take full advantage of the opportunities you have if you understand the makeup of your audience.
For many YouTubers looking to monetize, the more niche your channel is, the better a position you’ll be in to work with brands looking to target specific audiences (more on that later).
Take a look at your audience’s demographic information. You’ll want to pay especially close attention to:
- Gender for the distribution of male and female, and if your audience skews one way.
- Age for the ranges that most of your audience members fall into.
- Geographic location for the countries or cities where your viewers are watching your videos and some brands might want to focus on.
- Watch Time: The overall engagement of your audience when watching your videos.
- A combinations of the above to paint a more accurate picture of your audience by looking at things like the number of male viewers you have in a specific age range.
With this demographic information at hand, you’ll have a better understanding of your own audience and also be able to work better with brands. For more on interpreting your YouTube analytics.
Now, we can start talking about the different ways you can actually make money.
Earning with Youtube
There are several ways to make money on Youtube.
- Become a YouTube Partner and Make Money From Ads
- Make Money On YouTube By Selling Products or Merchandise
- Crowdfund Your Next Creative Project
- Let Your Audience Support Your Work Through Fan Funding
- License Your Content to the Media
- Work With Brands as an Influencer
Tips for Selling Audience without Annoying Them
Many of the above strategies for monetizing involve promoting products (e.g. your store) or campaigns (e.g. crowdfunding a video series). You’ll still need to make your audience aware of these without sabotaging the integrity of your content.
“Selling out” to their audience is a real concern for a lot of creators. But if you never ask, you’ll never get.
There’s a number of “placements” you can choose from for promoting products or your campaigns.
Add Call to Action in YouTube Videos
“If you liked this video, then hit the like button and subscribe.”
Many YouTubers include a call to action along those lines at the end of their videos to grow their viewership. By suggesting the intended action you want them to take, your audience is more likely to actually take it.
You can adapt this approach to direct your audience’s attention to a revenue-generating opportunity.
Add Well-Timed YouTube Cards to Your Videos
Whether it’s part of your deal with a brand or you’re promoting your own products, YouTube Cards offer an eye-catching way to get the attention of engaged viewers.
You can set them to pop up at just the right moment when they’re most relevant and least distracting to increase their impact.
Add Links to Video Descriptions
You can funnel viewers to your store, Patreon page, Kickstarter campaign, or other revenue-focused part of your online presence by adding links to your video descriptions.
Promote Offer on Other Platforms
Just because your content is hosted on YouTube, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be taking advantage of all the other channels out there for distribution.
Spread the word about new campaigns or discounts on Twitter, Facebook and any other profiles you might own.
The more places your message lives, the greater the chance that it’ll be seen. So it’s always a good idea to grow your social media following beyond YouTube.
YouTubepreneur – Let’s Start Making Money
What compels most creators to create is rarely the money. It’s the thought of making something for the world to enjoy.
But ironically, that puts them in a great position to actually make money in a content-obsessed world.
While the hard part for many businesses is getting and keeping their audience’s attention, YouTubers have already figured that bit out.
All that’s left is to get creative—to channel the entrepreneurial drive to explore ideas— with how you choose to monetize your passion.
Must read:
Youtube Monetization in Pakistan promises big revenue
Image credits: 1.bp.blogspot
Digital marketing enthusiast and industry professional in Digital technologies, Technology News, Mobile phones, software, gadgets with vast experience in the tech industry, I have a keen interest in technology, News breaking.