How to Make Money on YouTube in 2023 - 9 Rocksolid Ways

With over 2 billion active monthly users worldwide, YouTube is the second most used website in the world after Google itself. Today, it is common for YouTubers to be making six figures, and, being a YouTuber is no less than a full-fledged career in 2023.

So, if you find yourself wondering how to make money on YouTube, we assure you are not alone. From earning ad revenue to selling merchandise, YouTube has a wide variety of options for you to make money online if you are into making videos.

Granted, gaining followers on Youtube can be a time-consuming process but, the good news is that once your channel gains a significant following, it gets progressively easier to get more and more viewers as long as you keep uploading quality content consistently.

Tips to Make Money on YouTube

As with most other social media platforms, the key to making money on YouTube is to garner a large audience online. So, before we go into the different methods you can use YouTube to make money online, here are 7 simple tips to get more viewers for your YouTube Channel:

Create Quality Content

The most important thing to get more viewers, of course, is to create good-quality content. So, plan your videos well and invest in production equipment like a microphone, camera, and required software. Write a script and edit it to perfection.

Use Attention Grabbing Thumbnails

The thumbnail is the first thing that a viewer comes across and it is often what determines whether they will click on a video or not. So make sure to always use eye-catching and relevant thumbnails for your videos without click-baiting the viewers.

Search-optimize Your Videos

If your videos are more likely to appear in YouTube search results, they are more likely to be clicked. So, always use relevant titles, tags, and descriptions that make your videos more discoverable.

Post Consistently

Consistency is key to making money on social media. It not only helps build a loyal viewership but helps with the YouTube algorithm as well. So, keep putting out content consistently, preferably at regular intervals. But at the same time, take care not to compromise the quality of the content.

Engage with Your Audience

Responsive creators are more likely to attract and retain viewers. So, take time to engage with your audience by responding to comments. If the format of your video supports it, acknowledge and address your audience in your videos. Ask for feedback and try to implement the suggestions of your audience in your videos.

Team-Up with Other YouTubers

Collaborating with a fellow YouTuber in the same niche not only adds to your credibility but also helps you to reach the audience of the other YouTuber. So, reach out to your competitors and offer to make joint videos or video series as it is a win-win proposition.

Utilize Your Social Media Handles

Share your YouTube on any social platform you are active on including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Whatsapp. Promoting your videos on other social platforms besides Youtube not only enables you to reach a wider audience but also helps you create a more well-rounded online persona.

Following these best practices will go a long way to help you get and retain more followers. Just be patient and it is only a matter of time before you cross the 1000 subs mark and become eligible to join the YouTube Partner Program.

Until then, you can use the methods discussed below to make money with your YouTube channel.

Ways to Make Money on Youtube

Creating Sponsored Content

Even though having a large following and being a part of the YouTube Partner Program significantly increases your chances of getting sponsorship deals, it is not a prerequisite.

If you consistently keep putting out engaging content and develop a loyal fan base, a business in the same niche as yours may take notice and approach you with a sponsorship offer to create promotional content for them in return for monetary compensation.

Or, if you have a brand in mind, you can approach it yourself through social media or e-mail. In your pitch, you should explain your channel, your audience, and how a partnership with you could be beneficial for the brand.

It is important to be selective while choosing a brand to collaborate with and chose a brand that aligns with your values as well as your niche. Also, take care that promoting the brand doesn’t make the quality of your content suffer.

Joining an Affiliate Program

If you would like more freedom and autonomy in promoting a brand, the performance-based model of affiliate marketing might be a perfect fit for you.

As an affiliate marketer, you promote a business online and get a commission every time a sale is generated through your efforts. The commission may be a fixed amount or a fixed percentage of the sale.

The most important requirement for being a successful affiliate marketer is to establish your authority/credibility over a niche by posting quality content about it so that people trust your recommendations of the brand you endorse as an affiliate.

There are countless affiliate programs out there, offering a variety of commission rates and products/services to promote. Some popular affiliate marketing platforms are Amazon Associates, CJ Affiliate, Rakuten Advertising, and ClickBank.

Note: You need to disclose your affiliate relationship with the brand you are endorsing in the video descriptions or the videos themselves.

Headhunting with Synkdup

If you dig the commission-based model of affiliate marketing but are not into promoting products/services, maybe you should consider promoting job vacancies instead.

With the Synkdup Headhunter program, you can earn money through Youtube with the same performance-based model as affiliate marketing but, it is for promoting job openings across the U.S. instead of promoting products or services.

As a Headhunter, you are provided web links to job openings in various industries. You are expected to give these web links visibility on your social media handles in return for a commission of up to $25 for every applicant who applies to a job using your link.

Making videos related to jobs can be really useful to grow your channel as the topic has a great number of searches online. And even if you do not want to make dedicated videos, you can just post your job links with your videos in the comments or descriptions as a way to help your viewers find jobs.

Fanfunding Using Third-Party Platforms

Even without 1,000 subscribers, you can make money on YouTube by soliciting donations from your fans by using dedicated websites, most notably, Patreon.

Viewers can send monthly donations to you in return for exclusive benefits or simply to support your channel financially.

BuyMeACoffee and Hy.Page and also very trusted platforms that you can use to get monthly donations from followers.

It is important to keep creating quality content consistently and delivering on the promises you make to your patrons. Also, you need to be considerate in deciding a subscription price that is in line with the value you are offering so that your patrons don’t feel they are not getting their money’s worth.

Selling Merchandise

Selling your merch is one of the more ambitious ways to make money on YouTube. In addition to having strong marketing skills, you need to have a dedicated following of viewers who would be interested in buying your branded products. Branded products can be anything from t-shirts/hoodies to coffee mugs to tote bags with your logo imprinted on them.

However, it is better to offer products that are related to your niche in some way or the other. And make sure to always sell quality products to retain the trust of your viewers.

If you are not a YouTube Partner, you will need to set up an online store to handle transactions effectively. And if you are a Partner, you can use Youtube’s built-in merchandise shelf, a feature that allows you to display up to 12 products on the videos page of your channel.

The YouTube Partner Program

Joining the program enables you to make money on YouTube directly through the platform by sharing a part of the ad revenue and a couple of other ways discussed ahead. Only YouTubers with a significant viewership can join the program and you need to meet certain other criteria to be accepted into the program as well.

YouTube Partner Program Requirements

• Your channel should have at least 1,000 subscribers
• Your channel should have at least 4,000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months
• Your content should comply with YouTube’s monetization policies
• You should have an approved Google AdSense account

If you meet all these requirements, you can apply to join the program by following these steps:

• Sign in to your YouTube account and click on the icon for your account in the top right corner
• Click on YouTube Studio
• In the left menu, select "Monetization".
• Follow the instructions on your screen to accept the terms of the YouTube Partner Program.
• Link your AdSense account to your YouTube account.

Once you have completed all the steps, your application will be reviewed by YouTube. The reviewing could take a couple of weeks and after you become a YouTube Partner, you can make money on YouTube through the following methods:

Earning Ad Revenue

YouTube is a lucrative platform for advertisers to promote their products and services to a large audience. And this provides a great opportunity for creators to monetize their content by having ads run on their videos.

It works like this: whenever an ad appears in or before your video, you get a portion of what the advertiser is paying YouTube to have the ad run on the website. But, the viewer should click on the ad or watch it till the end for you to be eligible to get paid.

It is one of the most lucrative ways to earn money on YouTube because the ads are automatized and you don’t need to make any extra efforts to earn this way.

However, a possible drawback of this method is that YouTube can demonetize your channel at will if it finds your content to not be advertiser-friendly. You may be violating the platform’s policies without knowing it and all of a sudden you may find that you are not able to make money through ads anymore.

So, if you are serious about making money on YouTube, it is better not to rely solely on ad revenue and explore other ways as well.

Offering Paid Memberships

If you have at least 30,000 subscribers, you can supplement your YouTube channel income by offering channel memberships to your fans using a join button below your videos.

As a member of your channel, a viewer gets access to exclusive perks in return for a monthly fee, 30% of which goes to YouTube.

Perks may include early access to videos, merchandise discounts, one-on-one chat, member-exclusive content, custom emojis, and custom badges.

You can offer different membership tiers, each with its own membership price and benefits. To make the most of it, remember to talk about the perks of your channel membership at the end of your videos to encourage viewers to become members.

Using Super Chat and Super Stickers in Your Live Streams

Super Chat and Super Stickers are YouTube’s built-in features that enable viewers to pay for standing out in your live stream chats.

Super Chat messages are highlighted in a bright color and stay pinned to the top of the live stream chat for some time depending on how much the user has paid.

Super Stickers are animated stickers that come in different shapes and sizes that viewers can buy for greater engagement in your live chats.

The portion of the revenue from the purchase of Super Chat and Super Stickers that goes to YouTube varies depending on your country and currency.

If you go live frequently, these features can be a great option to boost your YouTube channel income. Remember to acknowledge your viewers when they use super features during your live streams and thank them for their support to make the most of these features.

Earning from YouTube Premium

Being a part of the YouTube Partner Program also makes you eligible to share a part of YouTube's premium revenue.

YouTube Premium is a paid service that offers users special features like free access to YouTube Music, ad-free videos, background playback, and so on.

Just like ad revenue, you do not need to do anything extra to make money through YouTube Premium. Whenever YouTube premium subscribers watch your videos, you will automatically get a portion of their subscription fees.