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We have all heard and seen the various ways that creators have found to increase their earning potential while creating videos on YouTube. And as fun and easy as earning money from adsense can be, it really is not the get-rich-quick scheme that so many fledgling creators believe it to be. In fact it is often considered one of the worst revenue streams; as we have seen over the last few years adsense revenue can dry up or become completely stripped due to a variety of factors like federal legislation or advertiser budgets... even simple misunderstood captions in your upload can cause the immediate demonitization of a video! So let's take just a moment to look at the other opportunities that are available to increase your revenue and see just how you can utilize them effectively.
Affiliate Marketing
Many websites offer you a portion of money earned for directing traffic that eventually makes a purchase from their site. This usually involves simply setting up an account where you will be provided with a link. When someone clicks on your link and makes a qualifying purchase you get a cut of the proceeds from that purchase! The largest opportunity for affiliate marketing is Amazon and sadly Amazon Affiliates took a big hit recently as they decided to make sweeping cuts to the amount that they give per purchase, but on the plus side this is opening doors for their competitors to step in and take a larger foothold in the online sales sector. With the massive increase in online sales of daily goods as a result of the recent pandemic people are becoming more educated and trusting of online sales, making these sales easier to promote.
Taking advantage of affiliate programs is very simple. As a content creator you have the ability to do something that far less online retailers are able to offer; a hand's one visual representation of a product. Simply show the viewer what that product can do, how it works etc and direct them to a link in the description of your video (be sure to let the viewer know that you are an affiliate, a lack of disclosure can be offensive to your audience and can cause you to have your affiliate account shut down).
Sponsorship and Integrated Ads
We've all seen the plug for Honey or various mobile games presented at the beginning of our favorite videos. These are called integrated ads; they are simply creator testimonials for a product/brand that they were paid to promote. Similarly sponsorships work in the same way. But how do you come across these opportunities? You are going to have to go old school! Go talk to people. A simple Google search will provide all the necessary templates and information needed to put together a media package or ad integration presentation. Go find someone who appears to need some presence for their product and let them know what you can do. You are going to get turned down... a lot. That is all part of the game. But if you provide value in your work somebody will give you a shot!
Merchandise
So many people get this SOOO wrong. You slap your logo onto a dropshipping product from Spreadshirt and tell everybody in your video to go buy your product. How many times have you bought a product from somebody like that? The key to merchandise is to create something that speaks to the viewer. Logan Paul, and Jarvis Johnson are perfect examples of how to pull off merchandise correctly. Paul's 'Maverick' brand speaks to the youth wanting to rebel and be wild just like their mentor. Johnson's 'Trying My Best' brand is simple and kinda nerdy... just like his audience. Instead of slapping your name on a shirt and trying to sell it come up with something clever, something that speaks to your work and what it is about (this is the foundation of 'branding'). If you can't come up with something don't be afraid to outsource ideas to someone on Fiverr or even that friend who is an artist. There are resources out there that will help you come up with a far better product than just slapping your channel name on a shirt.
Services
In my opinion this is single-handedly the revenue source with the absolute highest earning potential. It is also one of the hardest ones to master... but the reward is well worth the work. You see, you have a skill. You have an expertise (even if you need to continue to develop that skill you do have a skill). Cater your video work towards this skill. Whether it be fishing, video games, knitting, food reviews... you have something that others A) don't have and B) are interested in. So what can you offer them that is worth more than a free video? Sweat equity. If you do fishing you can put together a PDF tutorial on ways to catch fish, if you do food reviews you can offer your reviews to local restaurants for their Yelp and Google Map listings (yeah, that is a real thing!). If you do art you can offer commissions. You enjoy making videos but you can also use your free videos as a means of marketing a product or service that you do, and that product or service is likely worth far more than anything you would earn with adsense.
In the end it is likely that you have already heard about most if not all of these revenue sources. What is going to make a difference in your income isn't whether or not you have these available to your audience, because SOOO many creators have these exact same things available to their audience. You need to put time and effort into perfecting each for your audience. Focus on providing value for your audience. Be undeniable. As with any business you will succeed or fail based entirely on the merits of your work.
There are a lot of resources available out there for creators to learn and perfect these skills. I highly recommend WholeSale Ted, Pat Flynn and Roberto Blake for a more in-depth look at making money with your YouTube channel.
Affiliate Marketing
Many websites offer you a portion of money earned for directing traffic that eventually makes a purchase from their site. This usually involves simply setting up an account where you will be provided with a link. When someone clicks on your link and makes a qualifying purchase you get a cut of the proceeds from that purchase! The largest opportunity for affiliate marketing is Amazon and sadly Amazon Affiliates took a big hit recently as they decided to make sweeping cuts to the amount that they give per purchase, but on the plus side this is opening doors for their competitors to step in and take a larger foothold in the online sales sector. With the massive increase in online sales of daily goods as a result of the recent pandemic people are becoming more educated and trusting of online sales, making these sales easier to promote.
Taking advantage of affiliate programs is very simple. As a content creator you have the ability to do something that far less online retailers are able to offer; a hand's one visual representation of a product. Simply show the viewer what that product can do, how it works etc and direct them to a link in the description of your video (be sure to let the viewer know that you are an affiliate, a lack of disclosure can be offensive to your audience and can cause you to have your affiliate account shut down).
Sponsorship and Integrated Ads
We've all seen the plug for Honey or various mobile games presented at the beginning of our favorite videos. These are called integrated ads; they are simply creator testimonials for a product/brand that they were paid to promote. Similarly sponsorships work in the same way. But how do you come across these opportunities? You are going to have to go old school! Go talk to people. A simple Google search will provide all the necessary templates and information needed to put together a media package or ad integration presentation. Go find someone who appears to need some presence for their product and let them know what you can do. You are going to get turned down... a lot. That is all part of the game. But if you provide value in your work somebody will give you a shot!
Merchandise
So many people get this SOOO wrong. You slap your logo onto a dropshipping product from Spreadshirt and tell everybody in your video to go buy your product. How many times have you bought a product from somebody like that? The key to merchandise is to create something that speaks to the viewer. Logan Paul, and Jarvis Johnson are perfect examples of how to pull off merchandise correctly. Paul's 'Maverick' brand speaks to the youth wanting to rebel and be wild just like their mentor. Johnson's 'Trying My Best' brand is simple and kinda nerdy... just like his audience. Instead of slapping your name on a shirt and trying to sell it come up with something clever, something that speaks to your work and what it is about (this is the foundation of 'branding'). If you can't come up with something don't be afraid to outsource ideas to someone on Fiverr or even that friend who is an artist. There are resources out there that will help you come up with a far better product than just slapping your channel name on a shirt.
Services
In my opinion this is single-handedly the revenue source with the absolute highest earning potential. It is also one of the hardest ones to master... but the reward is well worth the work. You see, you have a skill. You have an expertise (even if you need to continue to develop that skill you do have a skill). Cater your video work towards this skill. Whether it be fishing, video games, knitting, food reviews... you have something that others A) don't have and B) are interested in. So what can you offer them that is worth more than a free video? Sweat equity. If you do fishing you can put together a PDF tutorial on ways to catch fish, if you do food reviews you can offer your reviews to local restaurants for their Yelp and Google Map listings (yeah, that is a real thing!). If you do art you can offer commissions. You enjoy making videos but you can also use your free videos as a means of marketing a product or service that you do, and that product or service is likely worth far more than anything you would earn with adsense.
In the end it is likely that you have already heard about most if not all of these revenue sources. What is going to make a difference in your income isn't whether or not you have these available to your audience, because SOOO many creators have these exact same things available to their audience. You need to put time and effort into perfecting each for your audience. Focus on providing value for your audience. Be undeniable. As with any business you will succeed or fail based entirely on the merits of your work.
There are a lot of resources available out there for creators to learn and perfect these skills. I highly recommend WholeSale Ted, Pat Flynn and Roberto Blake for a more in-depth look at making money with your YouTube channel.
