How to Make Money Through YouTube in [2021]

Since 2009 millions of people have quit their jobs and started to make a living out of YouTube.

YouTube has more than 1.9 billion users.

YouTube is the most viewed website in the world after Google. 

Three hundred hours of content is being uploaded every minute. 

YouTube is undoubtedly the essential platform to build a personal brand. It could even replace a television.

Every single thing that happened on TV can happen on YouTube.

Whether you want to be Billy Mays, Dr. Drew or Rachael Ray or Oprah or Tavis Smiley or Chris Hardwick, you have the most incredible opportunity.

You can start cooking, mentoring, interviewing people, or anything that you want to do.

However, YouTube isn’t easy as it was in 2011. Because the number of visitors was more and creators were significantly less. 

But if you are intelligent, funny, talented, and you can think out of the box, then you will win.

We are on this earth for a short time only, and it’s worth taking steps to make those hours rewarding, productive, and enjoyable than spending on boring typical 9-5 jobs. 

Why is YouTube or video content the future?

CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg said that the future of Facebook and Instagram lies in the video.

Videos are one of the best marketing mediums that can target specific audiences and generate a good Return On Investment(ROI).

Our brains are tempted to like visuals – images or videos.

Viewers are more likely to be impacted by a video – they tend to share it with their close ones.

Our brain can retain only 10% of information from written notes while regaining 90% of data from a video.

Video is good for brand recall. It has better engagement than audio and texts. It provokes an emotion. 

Currently, 87 percent of online marketers use video content in their marketing strategies. 

Worldwide, 51.9 percent of marketers cite video as the content strategy that produces the best Return On Investment (ROI).

How much money can You make from YouTube?

There are plenty of people who believe that earning money online is hard. 

But numerous stories have made their fortune online through YouTube. 

Google keeps only 32% of their AdSense revenue, so for every $100 an advertiser pays, Google pays $68 to the publisher.

The actual rates an advertiser pays vary, usually between $0.10 to $0.30 per view, but averages out at $0.18 per view.

On average, you can receive $3 – $5 per 1000 video views. 

The above image from the influencer marketing hub gives an overview of the same. 

Let’s look at the following five case studies.

1. Rich roll

A vegan wanted to participate in the 2009 Ultraman world championships. So he bought one flip camera and started making videos of training and uploaded it on YouTube. 

He used to engage with his audience delivering value and help all the year. 

In 2010 he completed EPIC5 Challenge- five Ironman triathlons on five Hawaiian Islands in seven days. 

He prepared a 9 dollar e-book on vegan recipes before giving his interview on CNN. The interview went viral; the blog became so popular that people bought his book, which paid his family mortgage for two years. 

He was then offered 150,000 dollars for his next book called “Finding Ultra”. 

Now he has his own Rich Roll Podcast. 

2. What’s Inside 

Daniel Markham’s made a career from pharmaceutical sales to a world-traveling father-son duo through YouTube. 

His son Lincoln went to him for his second-grade project, and they decided to cut open a baseball, but Daniel shot the video and uploaded it on YouTube. 

People liked the video and offered suggestions to cut open other kinds of balls. 

In 2015, they got their first deal to cut open a Rubik’s cube for 250 dollars; then a 1000 dollars deal to cut open a mattress. 

In July 2016, he quit his sales rep job and became a full-time YouTuber when many brands started going to him to cut open things. 

3. Unacademy

Did you know that India’s biggest online learning platform was once started as a YouTube channel? 

Gaurav Munjal started the YouTube channel back in 2010, providing free education. 

For five years, they provided free education until 2015 where they thought of monetizing and launched it as an online education company. 

They introduced live classes, which were available only to paid members. 

Then they launched an ad-free version for premium subscribers.

And today, they are a billion-dollar company sponsoring India’s most prominent sports event, “Indian Premier League” (IPL) 

They would have been less successful if they had not established their presence on YouTube. 

Not just that, they have even bought other teaching YouTube channels for millions of dollars. 

4. Carry Minati

Ajey Nagar is a 21-year-old who is making a living through YouTube. 

He is also the highest subscribed YouTuber in India.

He began his career when he was ten years old, creating diss songs, satirical parodies, and comedy, apart from living gaming.

He has received 2 Silver Play Buttons (CarryMinati and CarryisLive), 2 Golden Play Buttons (CarryMinati and CarryisLive), And 1 Diamond Play Button for CarryMinati.

 5. Ryan’s world, formerly Ryan Toys Review 

This little kid has an estimated net worth of around $120 million earned from his different YouTube channels and other ventures created by his fame. 

Yes, Ryan started a toy unboxing YouTube channel with the help of his parents. 

His content is mainly him playing with toys and reviewing toys for kids.

He also does fun and easy science experiments for kids. 

5 Advantages of Becoming a YouTuber 

1.It lets you follow your passion. 

YouTube is one free platform to follow your passion, show them to your audience, and get a review. 

Your passion could be in cooking or dancing, or traveling; you can show that here. You could get many things sponsored by companies. 

2. No degrees are needed, and no minimum age.

There’s an age limit to earn. However, there’s no age limit to start. You can begin at any age, and you don’t need to have any qualifications.

All you need is a few skills in recording and editing. 

3. Another source of revenue

You can treat this as a business or as a platform to promote your products/services. This way, you can have another source of revenue coming to you. 

4. Be your own boss

You are your boss here. You don’t need to have the pressure of completion in the stipulated timeline.

You can work how you feel like however, you must remain persistent and determinant. 

5. You get to express your creativity.

This is a good platform for all the artists out there to stand out and get recognized. 

Recently Yashraj Mukhate’s “Rasode mein kon tha” video received so much appreciation from the public that he started receiving offers for product promotions and film signings.  

Why don’t you start?

1. I wouldn’t say I like editing. 

You should have the skills to make videos or hire somebody who has the same abilities.

Learn about the camera and speaker and filmmaking. You can follow every frame of a painting to learn more about editing.

You need to love editing and enjoy the process. It requires a lot of patience and dedication.

If you don’t like editing, then you have to outsource it. 

2. I don’t have equipment. 

Sound is more important than video. You can start with Mic, which costs between 7,000 to 8,000 INR.

You can start recording your videos through the phone. Ashish Chanchlani and BB KI Vines started with phones. Now they are the highest-paid YouTubers of India. 

Later on, you can invest in buying a camera of 40,000 INR – Sony or Canon, which are good.

Once you are doing well, you can move on to a lapel mic of 40,000-50,000 INR.

Shoot in broad daylight so that you don’t need lights. 

Fill your room with a lot of things so that you can take care of the echo. 

The idea here is to start with what you have while you continuously try to upgrade your equipment.

3.  I don’t have content. 

Follow 5-10 YouTube channels of your niche and passion. 

Take inspiration from them but don’t copy or plagiarize. 

Make videos in less than 10 minutes. The objective here is to make short videos that cover a lot of information. 

Try to be as active as possible in the comments section up to you get 1k subscribers. 

You can get content ideas through the comment section. 

You don’t need to be accomplished to do the same. You learn as you go.

You have the option to run polls as well. 

Don’t wait till you become an expert. Start to become one. 

Roughly 3-4 hours is spent on writing scripts for a 10 minutes video. 

4. I am not camera-worthy.

The reason why most people don’t take this up is that they think they are not camera-worthy.

But what you need to understand is that vlogging or documenting doesn’t demand you to be glamorous or beautiful.

Vlogging is different from creating. It is to document your process, which means anyone can do it.

You have to be happy and enjoy the process of reaching out where you wish to see yourself in time.

If you are still anxious to show your face, you can do a voiceover with animation. 

5. I am passionate about more than one field.

If you have interests in more than one field, you can create videos on them and see which audience likes them more.

If you look at BeerBiceps (Ranveer Allahbadia), he started with fitness, then moved to fashion, communication, entrepreneurship, and spirituality. 

He calls this as reinvention where he struggles not to bore his audience, 

If you have done 100 videos on fitness, then you can move into Yoga or Ayurveda.

Try to be new and unique every possible way you can. 

11 ways to earn money from YouTube

1. AdSense

To apply for AdSense, you need to have a minimum of 1k subscribers and 4,000 watch hours.

Then you can apply for the YouTube Partner Program. 

The ads that YouTube run will be based on the advertiser’s target audience. And what you earn will depend on those ads.

For example, CPM(Cost per Thousand) will be more for tech-related videos than comedy videos.

The CPM of the US is more than India because US advertisers pay more compared to India.

To earn anything from a CPC (Cost Per Click) ad, you need a viewer to click on the ad. 

But, only a tiny percentage of your viewers will click on the ads surrounding your videos. 

Or a viewer must watch them for at least 30 seconds (or half the ad for a brief video). 

You will only get paid once your AdSense account reaches $100.

A note for beginners is that you need to have many views to earn through YouTube AdSense. 

And if you focus too much on numbers, you will be distracted to do things that will build a successful channel. 

2. Brand Deals

Won’t come knocking on your doors. You need to find them and negotiate a deal. 

Please make a list of brands that already partner with other channels in your niche and approach them.

In this, you can earn more than what you can earn through AdSense.

Based on your content’s quality, you get 10-20 lakhs INR for promotions on your channel, which can receive 1-2 Million views.   

3. Sponsored videos

This is one of the easiest ways to partner with a brand. 

You create a standard video for your channel and add somewhere in the beginning or end that “This video is sponsored by x.”

And give a brief description of that company/product/service. 

With half a million views, you can receive up to 1000 dollars. 

4. Growth on other social media platforms 

Getting growth on other social media channels is equally important and beneficial for earning a lot of money. 

You can get free merchandise from companies by promoting their products, 

Or you can sell your products and services. 

You need to start diversifying and growing on other social media channels as well.

Free merchandise from brands and free travels.

5. Offline products

If you have your product, then this can be the best launchpad available. 

It’s free, and the viewers on YouTube are more than the Television. 

This is an accessible mode of advertisement for your product, and you can equally succeed in promoting your product.

 6. Affiliate Marketing

You promote a product, and you get a commission for every sale that happens through your link.

Or the company gives a unique coupon code which you can provide your example. Example “BD2020”

Watch your analytics through youtube studio and particular target demographics. 

You don’t have to have to partner with a brand to do affiliate marketing.

Add a small link to your video description. 

Your promotion should bring you more credibility and authenticity. Otherwise, the audience won’t come back to you.

 7. Paid reviews

Here you try to deter the product in action. You unbox the effect and show its features. 

Technical Guruji does this kind of video to make videos of the unboxing of new mobile phone launches.

And he is one of the top-earning YouTubers in India. 

8. Selling Courses

If you have your course, you can use this as a platform to promote it,  

You can upload a few promo or teasers or 10% of the video course content here. 

If people like it, they will buy your course,

This will be a sales funnel and a platform for you to convince your audience to buy the course.

Unacademy started as a youtube channel is a billion-dollar company now. 

9. Selling merchandise

Here is an opportunity to sell your products like T-shirts, mugs, etc.

This is a famous monetization method where the boss and money get credited to your bank account. 

But the disadvantage is that you have to develop your product thoroughly.

And you need to have more than 10,000 subscribers to avail of this feature. 

Only loyal fans of yours will buy your product. So it would help if you had thousands and thousands of subscribers. 

Make it easy for them to buy. Have a custom link like yoursite.com/merch, which you can say verbally.

Companies are promoting their brands through YouTube and social media. They think that YouTubers can get their product in front of the right people.

10. Crowdfunding – Patreon

Patreon is a crowdfunding platform designed to serve “artists and creatives.” 

You can make a profile and include the link in your video description. 

Patreon lets you offer rewards to your audience in exchange for the contributions they make. 

You can provide them early access to your videos, bonus content, behind the scenes, or merchandise like T-shirts. 

11. YouTube Sponsor button

YouTube has now launched its sponsor button by which your audience can directly contribute to you with a single click.

This is for those with more than 30,000 subscribers. 

The advantage of this over Patreon is that you can create an inside community with your contributors. 

You can have live sessions and interact with them. 

These people will have a custom badge when they comment on your videos. 

Whether it be Patreon or sponsor button, mention it in your videos.

FAQ

1. Does YouTube pay money if viewers skip ads?

No. YouTube doesn’t pay for skip ads. They pay if your viewer clicks on the ad or if they watch the ad for half a minute or half the video, whichever applies. 

2. Do YouTubers get paid for likes or views?

No. You get paid only for the ads clicked by your audience or when they watch, as mentioned above. There are chances of you making zero dollars with a million likes and views. 

3. Can YouTube be a career?

Of course. If you dedicate time and energy, it can be made a career. However, to be safe, try to make similar content on other social media channels. 

Final Words

You will be more successful, or you’re eager to share and create something because you believe that the world will enjoy it rather than because you have calculated that this will make you more money. 

Try to be unique; try to be different. Find a reason for people to follow you. 

Focus on your content. As you go on, you can improve your writing scripts, editing videos, and speaking. 

And lastly, be consistent. Upload videos regularly. 

Also, keep your goals realistic. Successful YouTubers have become millionaires after years of hard work. 

Work hard, and the results will pay off. 

The Internet is the new CNN, ABC, and of our day. Your audience is waiting for you. 

Be optimistic and execute. 

Also, want to read our other two related articles? – 

Online courses: The best way to make million dollars. Sky’s the limit. 

Social Media influencing – secrets of a 21-year billionaire by social media influencing.