How to Monetize YouTube Videos Without 4000 Hours and 1000 Subscribers
Nearly every monetized YouTube channel has been through the long grind of getting 4,000 watch hours and 1000 subscribers just for the opportunity to apply for monetization through the YouTube Partner Program. Thanks, Logan Paul!
If you’re just starting out, it can seem almost impossible. Did you know there is a way to monetize your YouTube videos outside of Adsense.
I’m going to show you how to monetize YouTube videos without 4000 hours and 1000 subscribers.
It’s Called Affiliate Marketing
One of the most common ways to make money with your YouTube channel outside of the YouTube Partner Program is with affiliate links.
How It Works
You choose a platform, product, or service that you like and use and sign up for their affiliate program. Most online companies have affiliate programs. So do Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and soooooooo many others. Just search for a company by name and put “affiliate program” in the search bar after it. For example, “tubebuddy affiliate program”.
Most affiliate programs will have you apply. Most of them are fairly easy to get into. Once you’re accepted, you’ll receive links that are unique to you which you can share in the description of your YouTube videos. When someone buys through your link, you receive a percentage of the sale as a commission at no extra cost to the customer.
There’s potential to make a decent amount of money with affiliate marketing and the best part is that there’s really no cap on how much you can make.
Or Grab Some Merch!
This one isn’t necessarily for everyone, but if the brand you’re building on YouTube allows for some swag, then you might consider selling products with your logo or catchy slogans you use in your videos printed on them.
If you are an entertainment or lifestyle channel, there are opportunities for your audience to show support and be a part of the community surrounding your brand with merch.
There are several companies online that make print on demand pretty simple like Printful or even Merch by Amazon. Do your research.
Sell Digital Products
If you do how-to or educational content, then eBooks and courses may be a viable means of monetization for you.
For example, if you run a carpentry channel and your how-to content doesn’t do as well as say a time lapse of you building something, then use the time lapses to drive sales and traffic to your how-to content.
There’s so many creative ways you can spin YouTube to connect with your audience. It’s an amazing platform.
The beauty with digital products is that you create them once and you can make money from them over and over again.
Run a Local Workshop!
A lot of people ignore the demand in their local area for their knowledge and those people are simply leaving money on the table.
You can bring your knowledge to your community.
If you don’t want to do it in person for whatever reason (I mean we are currently in a global pandemic…), you can do it in the form of a webinar.
You have many options here for pricing and scale. Do your research and see what you can accomplish!
Land a Brand Deal or Sponsorship
There are brands out there who will pay you for access to your audience through brand deals and sponsorships where you mention or even use a product or service in your video.
These take a bit of networking on your part, but can be very lucrative and definitely worth your time.
I Hope You Found This Helpful
Don’t limit yourself to only the YouTube Partner Program. Start monetizing your channel right away. If you play your cards right, you’ll be able to really cash in when you do join the YouTube Partner Program because your channel will already be profitable.
