An Ultimate Guide to YouTube Monetization Strategies

With over 2.49 billion users, YouTube is the second biggest search engine after Google. If you have a YouTube channel, you can easily make money by posting high-quality content that interests people. However, with the different YouTube monetization methods and requirements, it's important to understand the various options available to you. In this article, we will guide you on the various YouTube monetization strategies and show you how you can leverage them.

How YouTube Monetization Works

YouTube monetization refers to the different methods of earning revenue by creating videos. While there are different YouTube monetization methods, the most prominent is the YouTube Partner Program. This program has several requirements, which are:

• Be compliant with the YouTube monetization policies.
• Be a resident of a country where the program is readily available.
• Have no active strikes for breaking community guidelines.
• Have turned on the two-step verification for your Google account and the registered YouTube channel.
• Have Linked your Google Adsense account. If you don't have one, go ahead and create one. Then, you will need to begin setting it up.

If advertising on YouTube, you must use the Google AdSense Network.

What are the YouTube Monetization Policies?

We have already noted that one of the requirements for monetizing your YouTube account is to follow the YouTube monetization policies. That means you must understand the rules to monetize your YouTube account. The rules are made to ensure that your content aligns with YouTube's advertising standards. 

The policies cover different aspects of YouTube, such as terms of service, community guidelines, rights clearance adjustment policies, and copyrights. Some of the YouTube guideline policies are:

• Creating advertiser-friendly content. If you want to monetize your YouTube channel, you need to create content that advertisers will be comfortable advertising with. That means you need to avoid content considered inappropriate or offensive.
• Commerce Funding Module. If you intend to monetize your content using fun funding features such as channel memberships or super chat, you must accept the Commerce Funding model and its associated policies.
• Review Assessments. YouTube will regularly review your channel to ensure that it remains compliant with YouTube’s policy. They review factors such as the main theme of your YouTube channel, latest videos, video metadata, and the About Section of your channel. This review aims to ensure you maintain the quality of your monetized content.
• Community guidelines. All your videos and the channel must comply with the Community guidelines; otherwise, your content can be demonetized or removed.
• Program Policy. To continue participating in the YouTube Partner Program, you must comply with the terms of service and program policies. That includes avoiding repetitive content, which adds little or no value.
• Family and kid content. Channels with content marked as Made For Kids need to meet specific quality principles to remain monetized. If you create low-quality content, you can be demonetized or suspended.
• Creator integrity and responsibility. As a creator, you need to maintain respectful and honest behavior. If you engage in dishonest practices, you can be penalized.
• Policy updates. YouTube's policy is regularly updated to adapt to the changing regulatory and platform environment. Therefore, you must stay informed of the changes in the YouTube policy to stay compliant.

Ways of Monetizing Your YouTube Channel

Here are the different ways of making money with YouTube videos.

YouTube Partnership Program

We have already noted that one way to monetize your YouTube channel is through YouTube partnership programs. This is the easiest way of making money on YouTube and it’s worth discussing in detail. You must apply to join the program to start earning using this method. 

Before applying YouTube monetization, you must link your YouTube channel to your Google AdSense Account. If your channels meet the YouTube monetization requirements, you will be considered for the monetization program. You will need to have met the following criteria:

• Have at least 1000 subscribers.
• Have attained at least 4,000 hours of watch time in the last months.
• Adherence to the above YouTube Partner program.

Once you have met these requirements and made an application, YouTube will verify that you are compliant with their policy and regulations. After around one month, you will be given feedback on whether your application has been accepted. Once you are accepted into the program, you only need to Switch YouTube ads before you start earning.

At times, your application to the YouTube Partner Program will be turned down for reasons that may be unclear. Since it's impossible to understand why your application was rejected, you might need to use guesswork when editing your channel. The good news is that you can reapply after 30 days. For instance, if you feel a video violates the community rules, you can change it. If there are copyrighted materials in your videos, you can remove them before uploading them again.

Affiliate Marketing

Another great way of monetizing your YouTube videos is through affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing involves promoting a merchant’s products in return for a commission. You must begin by signing up for an affiliate program to use this YouTube monetization method.  Depending on your location, you can choose from different affiliate marketing programs such as:

• Amazon Affiliate
• Clickbank
• Walmart

Once you join a program, you will be provided with a unique link that you can use to promote the product or service. You can then create videos promoting or reviewing the product and asking viewers to find the link to the product in your description. Other YouTube content ideas you can consider include:

• Unboxing videos.
• How-to videos

You are paid a commission once a viewer buys using the product link. Remember to add a disclosure mentioning that you get paid a commission when viewers buy using a commission. This is one of the requirements in most affiliate programs. It is also essential to market products in the niche you are creating videos on.

Becoming a YouTube Influencer

Influencer marketing has become more popular recently. If you have a big and dedicated audience that trusts you, brands will not hesitate to spend their marketing budget on you. Therefore, this is one of the most effective YouTube monetization methods. 

As a YouTube influencer, you will advertise business products or services just as you do in affiliate marketing. However, the payment plan as an influencer will be different as it may consist of a flat fee for creating a certain number of videos. However, this will also depend on your agreement with that particular brand.

To be considered by various brands, you must have a dedicated following with content relevant to their target audience. Having a large following to find brands to partner with is also essential. To help you find relevant brands you can partner with, you can use influencer marketing agencies such as Fanbytes or Viral Nation. To increase your chances of getting hired, you can enroll in several recruitment agencies, increasing your visibility. Remember that the YouTube ad policy requires you to label your sponsored content as paid promotions. 

Content Licensing

If you create content that adds value to users and is extremely popular, you can monetize it by permitting websites to use the videos. Since you have already licensed the video, they will pay you to use it in their publication or channel. This is an effective strategy, especially when creating very popular videos.

To make the most out of content licensing, you should include an email address on the About page of the YouTube channel. There are also other marketplaces where you can list your videos so that they can be easily located.

YouTube Short Fund

YouTube Shorts are a recent addition to the platform. They consist of short and vertical videos often made using smartphones and posted directly on the platform. These work in the same way as TikTok and Instagram videos. However, YouTube shorts should have a maximum length of 60 seconds.

The good news is that YouTube also allows the monetization of YouTube shorts. However, just like the long-form videos, you need to meet the YouTube requirements for Shorts, which are:

• A minimum of 1000 subscribers.
• A minimum of 10 million valid views for the last 90 days.

You can learn how to increase your YouTube views according to Reddit users.

Selling Merchandise

You can profit from your audience by selling merchandise such as caps, notebooks, and t-shirts. This strategy can be quite effective if your channel has a large audience. There are online platforms such as Printify where you can upload your creations. Consumers can buy on the platform and have it shipped to their mailboxes.

Selling branded merchandise can help boost your channel's visibility and, ultimately, the number of subscribers. Instead of depending on the number of views accrued or subscribers gained, you only need a steadily rising fan base who will buy the merchandise. To access the merchandising feature, you need 1K subscribers or an artist channel.

Channel Membership

With channel membership, you can allow your viewers to support your channel through exclusive subscriptions and other benefits. YouTube allows you to create a maximum of five tiers of benefits, with each level having different benefits. Like the other monetization methods, you must meet several requirements before activating channel membership. These benefits include:

• Have a minimum of 1000 subscribers.
• Be over the age of 18.
• Be a member of the YouTube Partner program.

Once you meet the above requirements, you can ask your subscribers to subscribe to certain exclusive content for a monthly fee ranging from $0.99 to $100. If your account is suspended or violates the YouTube policy, YouTube will refund the subscription fees to members.

YouTube Premium Earning

YouTube allows users who want to watch content without ads to subscribe to YouTube Premium. On the other hand, if the subscribers watch your content, you will be given a share of their subscription fees. Every month, YouTube distributes its earnings from YouTube Premium to creators. 

That means this is also a way of monetizing your content. The good news is that as long as you are monetized, you don't need to do anything to earn using this method. As long as YouTube Premium subscribers watch your content, you will get a share of the subscription fees.

Selling Online Courses

Another effective way of monetizing your YouTube channel is by creating and selling online courses. If you have a skill people can find helpful, you can sell it to an audience. The most important thing when doing that is to ensure that the course offers value to your audience.

The course could be a video or an ebook. No matter your chosen format, ensure that you provide high-quality content that will provide value to your audience. If you underdeliver, your audience will quickly discover and may even stop interacting with the channel. Therefore, you can end up losing a lot of potential income.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is another great way to earn money from your audience. However, this is one method you need to be careful about, or else you might be seen as begging. However, the fact remains that if you provide high-quality videos that add value to viewers, most of them will not have a problem contributing money to your channel. If you have a project you want to fund, you can do that using crowdfunding sites such as GoFundMe or Kickstarter.

Super Stickers and Super Chats

You can also make money on YouTube using Super Stickers and Super Chats. This feature is available for YouTube partners who are live-streaming. Subscribers can activate the Super Stickers and Super Chats in their live chats to create unique messages. Subscribers can also get personalized emotions and badges during the live streams. To use these features, you must be at least 18 and reside in a country where the feature is available.

Drive Traffic to Your Site

While this isn't a direct YouTube monetization strategy, it can help you earn money indirectly. The idea is to create videos where you recommend your blog to viewers. Instead of monetizing YouTube itself, you can focus on monetizing your blog. When the traffic to your site increases, you are also likely to see an increase in conversion and, in turn, revenue.

To implement this strategy, create a blog with the same name as the YouTube channel. Both should have similar designs. You can then add the link to your site or blog to your video description.

How to Improve Your YouTube Views

One of the YouTube monetization requirements is to have at least 4,000 watch hours. To meet this requirement, you will need to increase your views. The more views you get, the closer you will be to meeting the 4,000 watch hours. That said, here are tips you can use to increase your YouTube views and watch hours.

Create Excellent Content

Chances are that you are not the only creator in your niche. To increase the views of your YouTube content, you need to create better content than your competitors. Check the YouTube competitor analytics to get this data. Even if you are the only one creating that kind of content, you should focus on creating high-quality content. Such content is likely to engage viewers better, resulting in many views.

To provide great content, start by understanding your audience and the kind of content they need. Before you even begin creating videos, determine the challenges your potential viewers face and, therefore, create content that solves their pain points.

Optimize for the Search Engines

YouTube is a social media site and a search engine, just like Google. The only difference is that YouTube focuses on video content. However, just as you would optimize your blog, optimizing your channel and videos for the search engine is essential. To do that, you need to understand YouTube SEO and optimize your videos to meet the requirements. You can use a keyword research tool like VideoIQ and Tubebuddy to find these keywords.

YouTube SEO begins with finding keywords in your niche that people use to search for content. Once you have the relevant keywords, include them in your video title tags, descriptions, and thumbnails. Since the description is where you convey the video’s message to the visitors and search engines, this is a great place to add the keywords. Use short-tail and long-tail keywords to catch the viewer's attention.

Leverage End Screens

One of the metrics YouTube considers when ranking videos is the average watch time. If your video retains viewers to the end, YouTube will interpret this as a sign that the subject interests them. Besides, when your audience watches the video to the end, they are more likely to watch such additional content. You can make it easier for them to move to the next video using YouTube cards and an end screen. While cards can appear in the middle of the endscreen, they usually occur at the end.

Organize Videos Into Playlists

A playlist is a good option for helping users to view the content in the exact order you created it. This increases video views because when a person completes watching one video, they are automatically taken to the next one. As the series progresses, the views for each video continues to increase.

To increase a playlist's views, you can use different measures, such as promoting it on the end screen, embedding it on your sites, and asking your subscribers to share it. When creating playlists, ensure that each is unique. Plan them well so that you do not affect the flow and relevance.

Use Captivating Thumbnails

We noted earlier the importance of optimizing your video for the search engine. YouTube SEO will make your videos to be put before the audience's eyes on the home screen. However, you still need to make the necessary efforts to convince prospective viewers to click on your videos. After all, they will have several options, including promoted videos.

The thumbnail is one of the most essential elements in determining whether people click on your video. When combined with a suitable title, a captivating thumbnail can attract viewers to your videos. This is because it catches the viewers' attention the first moment they encounter the video. A good thumbnail will make your videos more appealing and indicate your level of professionalism. Ensure your thumbnails have the same style and font across different templates to provide consistent and unified branding for your channel.

Transcribe Your Videos

While this is not proven, there are suggestions that transcripts and subtitles can help your YouTube ranking. On the other hand, closed captions can increase video views as they help visually impaired persons understand the video. Therefore, transcribing your videos can help improve your number of views. You can check your competitor's YouTube transcripts to understand the best approach.

Turn Your Videos Into Blog Posts

We noted earlier that blogging is one way to monetize your YouTube channel by directing traffic to the site. On the other hand, you can also use your blog to drive traffic to your YouTube channels. Turning blog posts into videos can be a bit involving, but it can bear great results with time. Turning blog posts into videos can also help you improve the user experience for people who prefer to watch rather than read.

Influencer Collaboration

With millions of videos published on YouTube daily, creators are going out of their way to reach new audiences. They do that by collaborating with other creators in their niche. The goal is to leverage each other's audiences and increase your videos' reach. 

By collaborating with well-known creators, you can easily turn their viewers into subscribers. However, for effective collaboration, you need to find a good partner. The creator you collaborate with should share an interest in having professional-looking videos. 

Conclusion

Unless you are a brand looking for visibility, monetizing YouTube videos is usually in the minds of every creator. However, many creators often find that meeting the requirements is difficult because they didn't follow the monetization policy or struggle to meet them.  By reading this guide, you should be able to monetize your YouTube videos. You also need to understand the YouTube retention data.

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