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Welcome to Audioscoket’s influencer series of tips and tricks to best your craft as a YouTuber influencer and hopefully become a sensation. We’re going to explore a range of topics from basic understanding on the youtube landscape right through to advanced strategies you can use to live your best YouTube life. Sound good?
So, you want to make money on YouTube?
First things first, we all love a side hustle. Who wouldn’t say no to a little more cash in the pocket?
And YouTube is a great place to do so; in fact, a lot of people have full-time jobs through sharing videos about their passion. From setting up dominos and knocking them down to whispering into microphones, whatever floats your boat – it’s on there. Ah, YouTube! The place where dreams are made of!
Now everyone has to start somewhere and a lot of people look towards monetization as the first milestone of their channel. Google, however, has parameters that need to be met to gain such a privilege. I’ll guide you through some of the main pointers to understand the way monetization on Youtube works.
The 5 Google Monetization Commandments
So these magical monetization parameters not only cover advertising but they also have an effect on the volume of people that can see your videos. If followed correctly, these 5 commandments will have a profound effect on building your following:
- Your content is advertiser-friendly.
- You have created the content or have permission to use it commercially.
- You are able to provide documentation proving you own commercial rights to all audio and video.
- Your content complies with YouTube Partner Program policies, YouTube’s Terms of Service, and Community Guidelines.
- YouTube reserves the right to disable monetization for accounts that do not follow our guidelines.
So as you can see there are certain rules and regulations when uploading content to YouTube if you want your videos to start raking in some cash. Otherwise, if you’re breaking these rules the only hope to actually gaining money is to ask your followers for donations via PayPal or Patreon.
Getting in the fabled YPP (YouTube Partner Program)
YouTube is a two-way street, they’re #2 for overall traffic on the internet next to their big brother Google. So it’s in their best interest to get you online and creating content. As it’s always been, content is king; with many individuals and companies literally making millions in revenue from YouTube.
You want a piece of the pie, no?
Hold your horses.
To get in the YPP club you have to meet their requirements of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of viewed content. To clarify, if you have a 10-minute video and 5 minutes of it is watched by a viewer, that counts as 5 minutes of watch time.
I know it seems daunting but the only way is up, so get creating!
Google AdSense
Right off the bat, getting a Google AdSense account should be a big priority.
Upon signing up to AdSense, Google will send over a letter to your registered address validating your location. As a heads up, this can take up to six weeks.
What does Google AdSense have to do with YouTube you may be asking? Well, making money on YouTube isn’t as simple as jumping through YouTube’s hoops; you also have to play ball with YouTube’s parent, Google.
Google AdSense keeps a watch on YouTube. Let’s say you apply to make money on YouTube, your AdSense account will track your videos.
Then one day, you’re qualified – woo! Now Google will aggregate your views and deposit your earnings on the 21st of every month.
However, it’s important to remember that you must have earned $100 before the initial payouts can be made.
How Adverts Work on YouTube
Without delving into too much detail (and there is A LOT of detail), YouTube offers amazing advertising opportunities for brands to reach their intended audiences through the, already-established, viewership of partner channels.
For example, you’re a makeup channel and L’oreal has a new product to push. It’s an obvious choice for L’oreal to advertise with your channel. Could you imagine seeing a L’oreal advert on say, a Lego channel? Probably not.
Now there are several different types of adverts on YouTube, check them out below:
So I imagine you’re getting the grips of this whole monetization feature now, right? You’re excited, I get it!
But wait, there’s more and we’ll tell you all about in our next article on the topic.
Some Final Words
Just remember, you want these adverts to work for you. This is best achieved by being an authority in your own space, or as a ‘thought leader’, some would say.
Creating a YouTube channel is a great way to earn some extra side cash for your passions. But it’s going to take a lot of hard work to get to the point where you can quit your full-time job. It’s a learning curve, just like everything.
To keep on top of your creator game you need to be constantly learning and making great content, so make sure to keep up with us here at Audiosocket for plenty of tips and tricks to improve your craft.
In the next episode of our Influencer Tips series, we’ll look into the dreaded yellow dollar sign, CPM and copyright strikes, so stay tuned!