How to Make Money on YouTube in 2022

YouTube is one of the most flexible platforms for making money. Unlike other platforms, a YouTube channel can be incredibly versatile. You can make comedy videos, video essays, educational videos, and just about anything else you can think of. This also means that there are some great opportunities for getting paid.

Earn an income from your YouTube channel

If you want to earn an income from your YouTube channel, there are a few things you’re going to need to do. First of all, you need to enable monetization in your settings. This way you can start getting paid. 

Once you’ve started your YouTube channel, then you can begin looking into the different ways you can make money from it. By gaining more subscribers, getting engagement from viewers, and targeting a specific niche, you can increase your ability to generate income. It’s going to be much easier to make money when you’ve built your audience up.

With that in mind, let’s dive into the ways you can start earning income.

Join the YouTube Partner Program

As we mentioned earlier, enabling monetization will be the first step most YouTube channels take to start earning income. When you join the YouTube Partner Program, you can make your videos eligible for monetization and start making money from ads on your channel.

The YouTube Partner Program requires you to agree to their policies, and you also have to live in a country where the program is available. If you have more than 1,000 subscribers and over 4,000 watch hours in the past year, you can apply to be a partner.

Once you are in the YouTube Partner Program, you’ll get paid based on how viewers interact with the ads that pop up on your videos. If they click on the ad or watch the ad all the way through, you’ll get paid. However, if you want to get paid based on views, YouTube Premium is there to help. YouTube Premium subscribers pay so they don’t have to watch ads, and you get revenue based on how much these subscribers watch your content.

The YouTube Partner Program and YouTube Premium working in tandem can lead to a steady, consistent income for some creators.

Sell merch

Another good way to generate income from your YouTube channel is by selling merch. Not only does selling merch make you money, but it can also help raise awareness about your brand. You can sell shirts, hoodies, hats, mugs, and anything else that might correlate with your brand. Selling merch lets your fans rep your channel while also supporting the content.

When it comes to selling merch, you can go one of two ways:

1. You can manufacture goods on your own. This gives you a high level of quality control over the merch you put out, but it can also be very expensive, especially if you’re not selling your merch on a large scale. Typically, a better route for small and medium-level creators is to outsource merch sales.
2. You can partner with services that handle your merch order for you. These services will print your merch, ship and fulfill the orders, and take care of customer service for you. Of course, you don’t have as much control with this route, and the service takes a cut of the sales, but this is definitely the easiest option.

Follow YouTube's rules for monetization

If you’re monetizing your channel, you’ll need to follow the rules that YouTube has laid out. You agree to these rules when you agree to their policies. The YouTube Partner Program will check your channel on a regular basis to make sure you’re not in violation of their guidelines. Breaking these rules could lead to YouTube taking away monetization opportunities for certain videos.

Make sure to read over these rules so you understand them and you can make as much money from your videos as possible. In general, these rules are pretty straightforward, so if you think your video is pushing those boundaries, you can can always double check to see if you’re in violation of anything.

Work with brands as an influencer

As you grow your audience, you’ll be able to get brands interested in working with you and paying you to sponsor their products or services on your channel. As a creator, you’ll naturally gain an audience that trusts you and is loyal to your channel. This is a dream for marketing teams, so once you get a following like that, the brand deals will come easier.

The key is to learn how to price your services. This will depend on a variety of factors, such as your subscribers, your reach, and what niche you operate in. Just be sure to choose brands that will resonate with your audience and that you can genuinely recommend. You don’t want to alienate the audience you worked hard to gain just for a sponsorship deal.

Crowdfund your next creative project

If you have a great content idea that you really want to do but don’t have the funds to do it, you can go the crowdfunding route. Crowdfunding allows you to ask your audience for money in exchange for content, products, services, etc.

The key to a good crowdfunding campaign is offering good incentives. An example would be if someone donates, they get their name in the credits of the video, or they get exclusive merch. If you want to crowdfund a project, keep in mind that you won’t necessarily be profiting from it. The money needs to be used for the goal you outline. With that being said, a well-funded video means you get to create high-quality content, which can open up more opportunities and expand your brand.

Let your audience support your work through fan funding

If you’re looking to make a profit from your fans, you can use fan funding instead. Where crowdfunding is usually done with some end goal in mind, fan funding is typically just a way for fans to donate and support you so you can continue to create content.

If you do use a fan funding platform, it usually is a good idea to provide exclusive content or perks for your subscribers to show them you appreciate their contributions. This is a great way to connect with your audience and gain fan loyalty. Many of these platforms also let you sell your time and services, so you can look into adding that to your revenue streams.

Link a Google AdSense account

Keep in mind that you’ll need a Google AdSense account connected to your YouTube channel so YouTube has a way to give you your income. If you have more than one channel, they can all go to the same AdSense account.

Grow your channel

If you really want to grow your channel, it helps to have your own website and other social media platforms where you post content. This will help you get a bigger audience and find more ways to make money.

A link in bio tool is a great way to connect your channels and direct your fans to your merch, fan funding sites, and more. If you don’t have a link in bio tool on your channel yet, make that your next priority.

Join Beacons today!

Beacons is the platform for creators everywhere. With the Beacons link in bio tool, you can monetize your audience like never before. Beacons makes it easy for your fans to find your merch, your other social media channels, your fan funding sites, and more. Also, Beacons can help you build a mini-website right from your phone in minutes.

There’s a reason top creators use Beacons. Find out how Beacons can help you, and sign up for our platform for free today!