How to Make Money on YouTube (Best Ways Revealed)

YouTube is one of the most popular online platforms having more than 2 billion logged-in users. To make money on YouTube, the content creators catch the attention of these users with their creative and engaging videos.

You can be one of the many YouTubers who make money on YouTube if you have a passion for creating videos that help, inform, or entertain people.

You can earn good revenue every month by monetizing your YouTube channel in multiple ways. Do not know what the best monetization ways are?

In this article, we will review different monetization strategies that you can use on your YouTube channel.

Keyword Research to Drive Traffic

You will need to drive traffic to your videos to gain subscribers and make money. You want to find the keyword terms that offer good traffic but are not too competitive. This will allow you to get your video ranked quicker.

Keyword research is a big deal so check out our video to make sure you do it correctly. We do use VidIQ for most of our keyword research for YouTube.

The 10 Highest Earning YouTube Channels

YouTube is one of the most popular platforms where reaching the top requires a lot of struggle and hard work. Still, the following channels made it to the top with their unique and creative content. It only takes one viral video to get your name out there. According to Forbes, the highest-earning YouTube channels of 2020 are:

• Ryan Kaji (earning: $29.5 million, subscribers: 41.7 million) Does product reviews of kid’s toys and Ryan is a kid earning this much money. Parents and kids get honest feedback on the best toys to buy their children.
• Mr. Beast (earnings: $24 million, subscribers: 47.8 million) Does pure entertainment videos where they do crazy things that make you want to watch what is coming next.
• Dude Perfect (earnings: $23 million, subscribers: 57.5 million) These guys do fun tricks in different sports. Very funny and crazy tricks.
• Rhett and Link (earnings: $20 million, subscribers: 41.8 million) Two friends that have a comedy show on YouTube.
• Markiplier (earnings: $19.5 million, subscribers: 27.8 million) They do comedy sketches and animated parodies.
• Preston Arsement (earnings: $19 million, subscribers: 33.4 million) 25-year-old Jesus loving, video game playing vlogger.
• Nastya (earnings: $18.5 million, subscribers: 190.6 million) A 7-year-old who sings, plays, and explores with her parents.
• Blippi (earnings: $17 million, subscribers: 27.4 million) Channel helps kids learn about the world in a fun way.
• David Dobrik (earnings: $15.5 million, subscribers: 18 million) Does fun things like giving out free Xbox 360 gaming systems to kids.
• Jeffree Star (earnings: $15 million, subscribers: 16.9 million) Makeup and cosmetic tutorials.

Top 20 Niches to Make Money on YouTube

The first thing you need to decide before you start to make money on YouTube is what profitable niche will you pick. To help you, we have created this list of the top 20 niches.

Top 10 Gaming Channels

1. PewDiePie
2. JuegaGerman
3. ElrubiusOMG
4. Fernanfloo
5. VEGETTA777
6. Rezendeevil
7. Markiplier
8. VanossGaming
9. Jacksepticeye
10. Ninja

Top 10 Tech Videos Channels

1. Austin Evans
2. CNET
3. Jonathan Morrison
4. Linus Tech Tips
5. Make:
6. Marques Brownlee
7. TechSmartt
8. The Verge
9. Unbox Therapy
10. UrAvgConsumer

Top 5 Life Hacks

1. 5-minute Crafts
2. Troom Troom
3. Crafty Panda
4. Blossom
5. Household Hacker

Top 10 Health and Fitness

1. Tone It Up
2. POPSUGAR Fitness
3. Blogilates
4. Hang Tight with Marcie
5. Bodybuilding.com
6. Jazzercise
7. 305 Fitness
8. Yoga with Adriene
9. Livestrong Women
10. Tiffany Rothe Workouts

Top 10 Makeup Tutorials

1. Jeffree Star
2. NikkieTutorials
3. SaraBeautyCorner
4. Tati Westbrook
5. Michelle Phan
6. Kim RosaCuca
7. Simply Nailogical
8. Carli Bybel
9. Dope2111
10. Jaclyn Hill

Top 5 Beauty Hacks

1. Manny Mua
2. Jaclyn Hill
3. Anaysa
4. Grav3yardgirl
5. SaraBeautyCorner

Top Vlogs

1. Casey Neistat
2. RomanAtwoodVlogs
3. Nas Daily
4. Mo Vlogs
5. Mr Ben Brown

Finance

1. Graham Stephan
2. Financial Education
3. Andrei Jikh
4. Meet Kevin
5. Whiteboard Finance

Travel

1. Mike Corey
2. Arienne Parzei
3. Tourist2towne
4. Going Awesome Places
5. Expert Vegabond

Product Reviews

1. Fun Toys Collector DISNEY Toys Review
2. Ryans toys review
3. Unbox Therapy
4. Blu Toys Club Surprise
5. Marques Brownlee

Food Reviews

1. Rosanna Pansino – 12.4M
2. Binging with Babish – 7.5M
3. Epic Meal Time – 7M
4. Mark Wiens – 6.5M
5. Best Ever Food Review Show – 5.4M

Motivational

1. Mateusz M.
2. Tony Robbins
3. Absolute Motivation
4. Eric Thomas
5. Brian Tracy

Cooking

1. Food Wishes
2. Matty Matheson (and Munchies in general)
3. Binging with Babish
4. Laura in the Kitchen
5. Bon Appétit

How-To Videos

There are a ton of how to niches so no comprehensive list

Pranks

1. Roman Atwood
2. VitalyzdTv
3. Just for Laughs Gags
4. Magic of Rahat
5. Jesse

Dating and Relationships

1. Matthew Hussey world’s leading dating advice expert for women
2. TrippAdvice | Mens Dating Coach
3. Kezia Noble | Dating Advice
4. Mark Rosenfeld | Dating & Relationship Coach
5. Dating Beyond Borders

Storytime Videos

1. Shannon Linville
2. Storybook Nanny
3. Storytime Anytime
4. Storytime With Miss Yumi
5. Nana’s Story Time

Product Unboxing

1. Linus Tech Tips
2. Everything Apple Pro
3. Dope or Nope
4. iJustine
5. JerryRigEverything

Pets and Animals

1. The Dodo
2. Talking Kitty Cat
3. Maymo
4. Zak George’s Dog Training rEvolution
5. Brian Barczyk

Educational Videos

1. Ted Ed
2. C.G.P. Grey
3. Crash course
4. Khan Academy
5. Veritasium

Niches That You Will not Have to Show Your Face

You can find niches on YouTube that you do not have to show your face at all. Many people do not want to start a YouTube channel because they do not want to show their faces.

We will review the niches that you can go into and not have to show yourself on camera.

• Meditation – You will need to do some research on this niche because if you do not set it up right then you will not be able to get it monetized.
• Scary stories – If you like telling scary stories this might be for you.
• Top 10 – Great for recommending products like top 10 electric lawnmowers, etc. Just know you will have to do some in depth research.
• Top 5 – Same as top 10 but only reviewing 5 items.
• Car or vehicle – If you love cars then share pictures and talk about them.
• Luxury – Discuss anything of luxury from yachts to mansions.
• Hacks – Life hacks for everyday use.

The best course on this is YouTube Mastery by Matt Par. This is the course I took to get started on YouTube.

The Best Ways to Earn Money on YouTube

There are several ways you can make money on YouTube. Some of the most popular revenue streams are described below.

Run Ads on YouTube’s Partner Program

One of the most popular ways people earn money on your YouTube videos is by joining YouTube Partner Program (YPP). It allows you to run ads at the start or during a video. Adding ad revenue to your channel can significantly increase the amount of money you can make.

Advertising companies pay you based on the number of clicks and impressions. To become a part of this program, you will first have to fulfill their requirements (we will discuss these requirements in the next section).

You may be asking how much money can I make with ads?

The rate you can get paid on YouTube varies. The rate an advertiser will pay varies on the niche. Here is how much money you can make on average:

• Per view is $0.10 and $0.30
• Average per view is $0.18
• Calculate the average and you get $18 per 1,000 ad views
• Further calculations puts you at $3 – $5 per 1,000 views

Promote Affiliate Products in Description

If you are unable to run video ads on your channel, then do not worry there are other options available.

Another way to make money on YouTube is by promoting affiliate products by putting their links in the video description.

For this, you will have to sign up with each company’s affiliate program. You will get an affiliate link for each product, course, or service that you promote for them.

The more YouTube views you get the more potential customers that will click and buy using your affiliate links, the more money you can make. Make sure these affiliate products are related to your niche.

Sell a Course (Top Money Maker)

This method of earning money on YouTube is one of the most profitable ways to make money. If you are an expert in a field (if not an expert, then start learning or pay an expert), create a course to teach people what you know.

Let us just say you know how to set up a website to rank number 1 on Google. Next, you need to set up a course to show people the exact steps to rank a website on Google. Then you sell this course online to make money.

There are thousands of things people are looking to learn online.

Start with teaching basics on your YouTube channel. If you share authentic knowledge and have a good teaching manner, then people will automatically start liking your videos. Once you notice that more and more people are getting engaged on your channel, then create a course and sell it.

People will gladly pay for a course if your teachings work.  

Course creation is not too hard. You can use platforms like Udemy or teachable to get your program going. There are also course builders that you can add to your website to create the best course. We have listed a few below with details.

1. Thinkific
   1. Your course can be customized so no one would ever guess you are on the Thinkific platform
   2. The student dashboard is easy to use and navigate
   3. They have two option drip the course out to students or send the course all at once
   4. You can create great-looking sales pages
   5. Can use custom domains
   6. Marketing automation is offered
2. Learnworlds
   1. They offer custom domain names
   2. Free courses can be offered
   3. You can integrate with social media
   4. You can create a membership site
   5. Support is 24/7
   6. The analytics platform to help with sales is great
3. Teachable
   1. Really good if you want to get a course up fast and easy
   2. The checkout is one-click
   3. You can have live zoom classes but need to be on the Pro plan
   4. Payments in 130 plus currencies
   5. They allow you to customize your theme
   6. You can have graded quizzes

Sell Products Through Product Reviews or Tutorials

You can sell merchandise by making product tutorials or reviewing videos. These products can be a product you developed or products of any brand.

Brands will pay you if you provide them with more exposure and increase their sales.

In a tutorial video, you can tell how to use, pros, cons, benefits, and features. And in a product review, you can physically show the product in front of your audience to give them a better hands-on experience.  

Ryan Kaji does this exact thing and makes $29 million.

Sponsorship

If your channel is popular and you have a good number of subscribers’ then different niche-related companies can reach out to you and ask you to promote their products in your videos.

They will pay you a fixed amount in return.

Sponsorship is more popular in the beauty and fashion niche. There are many companies that pay exceptionally well if you have a good number of subscribers.

Get Donations Through Live Chats

Another option to earn money on YouTube is by live streams and live chats with your fans and audience.

In this monetization method, your subscribers will pay a monthly fee to get a custom badge or an emoji during a live stream. It will highlight their comment and make them prominent during a live chat. They can also pay you in chat, as well.

Channel Memberships

You can set up channel memberships that allow viewers to join your site for exclusive perks for a monthly payment. The membership with YouTube is free to use, but it comes with a cost. YouTube takes 30% of whatever membership tiers you have set up on your site.

Requirements to Monetize Your YouTube Channel

YouTube has set some rules and requirements for content creators. You cannot monetize your channels unless you follow these rules and fulfill their requirements. According to the latest policies, you can start earning from your YouTube channel if:

• You have at least 1,000 need subscribers.
• The overall watch time of your videos is 4,000 hours or more in the last 12 months.
• Your content adheres to the YouTube monetization guidelines and policies.

How to Sell Products in Your Video?

You need to use smart and effective ways to sell your products through YouTube videos. Do not make it too obvious or pushy because your audience will start to get annoyed.

The following are the best ways that we know to help you to promote products the right way.

• Use call to action at the right moment. It is one of the most effective ways to grab your audience’s attention and increase your sales without being too obvious.
• Make relevant YouTube Cards pop up on the screen at the right time. After talking about a product or something related to that product, if you put a YouTube Card at the end of the video, then your audience will most likely click on it. If you use a web camera or DSLR camera recommend them to your audience.
• You can make the most of the video description by adding product links to it. It allows you to transfer your YouTube audience to another channel like your online store, etc.
• You do not have to stick only to YouTube to increase your sales. You can promote your campaign on other social media platforms by using the most effective marketing strategies.

What is the Average Amount of Money You Can Make per 1,000 Views?

The amount of money you make per 1,000 views varies from niche to niche. It also depends on the location of your viewers and the audience type.

On average a YouTube channel can earn $3 to $5 per 1,000 views on videos that are monetized by ads. It may seem a small amount. But once you start creating engaging content and promoting your videos, you will be surprised to have 1,000 plus views per day easily.  

YouTube will pay 68% of AdSense ad revenue to their publishers.

There are niches that have a much higher payout. Some niches can make much more than $3 to $5 per 1,000.

Check out the highest-paying YouTube stars to see how much they make.

How to Increase YouTube Subscribers?

Growing your YouTube channel seems very frustrating if you do not know how to grab the audience’s attention and encourage them to press the “subscribe” button.

If you are a beginner, you may have only a few new subscribers per week. The key is to get better every week and post videos that help your customers or at least entertain them.

We have listed below the best ways to help you increase your YouTube subscribers and earn more.

• Thumbnails are the key to getting people to click the video, make sure this is catchy but not click baity
• The headline needs to draw them in so they will watch the video
• Use a strong call to action at the beginning and end of every video like “subscribe to this channel to get the latest updates.”
• Tell your viewers about the topic of your next video. It may pique their interest, and some will subscribe to the channel so they can get the next video.
• Promote your YouTube channel on social media platforms and use your videos in blog posts.
• Upload new videos more frequently. But do not neglect quality by putting all your focus on quantity.
• Create maximum engagement with your audience. Like their comments and leave replies.  
• Make your YouTube channel banner, name, and tagline catchy and attractive.

Drive Users Back to Your Website

You can send users back to your website. There you have more freedom to hopefully get them as a long-time customer.

Setting up a website and using YouTube to help drive traffic is the best way for you to maximize your potential for making money. If someone watches your YouTube channel, then goes to the next channel you lost that customer.

But if they watch your video then go to your website you have a good chance of gathering their email and gaining trust to sell them something later.

• Offer them a free PDF on your best-kept secrets to making money online, ask for their name and email address
• Have some great posts on your website that will offer free training
• The key is to get their email address so you can continue to market to them in the future

Conclusion

Video creators are making thousands and millions of dollars every year by creating videos that are creative and engaging. You can be one of them if you act on the information shared above.

Taking the first step is the most challenging task. Set up a YouTube account today and get started. Pick a niche and set goals at the start, you will face fewer challenges and be able to grow your channel in a shorter time.

If you need the training to help you get started on YouTube, we recommend YouTube Master by Matt Par. This is how we got started on YouTube.