YouTube is a great platform for entertainment but do you know that it can also be a great source of income? This is highly recommended for those who want to create content and want to earn money at the same time.
A lot of people go to platforms like YouTube and other social media to generate an income. But, it also takes a lot of time and effort to enable the monetization feature.
We haven’t even discussed the challenges that come with it. If you want to learn how to monetize YouTube channel, check out the guide below.
What is YouTube Monetization?
YouTube monetization is a feature that allows content creators and any other YouTube user to generate an income through their YouTube channel.
You need to qualify first before you can monetize your YouTube channel. Users are also expected to follow the community guidelines and rules in YouTube monetization.
Once you are approved, your channel will have ads that will allow you to generate money.
Every time another user watches your video, you get a portion of the income that the ads generate.
Requirements for YouTube Channel Monetization
To start monetizing your YouTube channel, you need to apply to unlock this feature. You need to be eligible first and then apply through the YouTube Partnership Program.
To join, you need to have at least 1,000 subscribers, 4,000 watch hours in the last 12 months, or have at least 10 million views on your Shorts for the past 90 days.
You must also live in an area or country where the YouTube Partnership Program is available. Every applicant must not have any active Community strikes on their channel and lastly, you must have an active AdSense account.
Proven Steps on How to Monetize Your YouTube Channel
Now that you are eligible for the feature, it is time that you start to monetize your YouTube channel.
A lot of new users tend to make a lot of mistakes due to inexperience or they don’t have prior knowledge as to how monetization works on YouTube.
Avoid those mistakes by following the proven steps below.
Create High-Quality Content
Many content creators often make the mistake of producing content as much as they want.
The quality of these content or videos tends to drop and people take notice of them. Make sure that you always produce high-quality content even if you just upload once a week.
Start slow and make sure that you do not compromise your content. This is your bread and butter as a content creator who wants to earn.
Optimize Your Videos
YouTube is a vast library of videos which means that you also need to optimize your videos so people can search for your content easily.
Incorporate specific keywords into your titles, descriptions, and hashtags so the system will be able to categorize your video properly.
This allows users to search for your videos accurately and drive more traffic to your channel.
Engage With Your Audience
Apart from creating good content, you also need to relate to your audience.
Interact with them through the comments section or go live and chat with them. There are a lot of things that you can do to enhance your interaction with your followers.
This will help connect you to them and have a solid group of people that will support your every venture.
Have a Consistent Upload Schedule
Another thing to take note of is to have a consistent upload schedule. Many content creators make the early mistake of uploading their videos at random times.
Many of your subscribers want to have a schedule for viewing your videos.
Having a consistent upload schedule also builds up anticipation which can help market your videos and other content.
Link to Other Platforms
Do not forget to link your other social media platforms to your YouTube channel.
This way, you can also grow your other social media while also driving them from one platform to your YouTube channel.
Cross-platform marketing is a great way to drive traffic to your channel and have more subscribers viewing your videos.
Collaborate With Other Content Creators
Another great way to build on monetizing your YouTube channel is to collaborate with other content creators.
Make sure that you have a similar niche and that your audience can also relate. You can even start a survey to your subscribers to see which content creator you want to collaborate with.
This will immediately drive more subscribers to your channel and more viewers down the road.
Things to Avoid If You Want to Monetize Your YouTube Channel
If you want to make your YouTube channel successful, there are certain things that you must never do when using the platform.
These activities will either diminish your reputation or even have you banned across all platforms.
These are the things that you need to avoid.
Break Community Guidelines
One of the major mistakes that people make on YouTube is breaking community guidelines.
Do not harass, bully, or even do any other activities that break the guidelines.
You might receive a strike on your channel for light offenses but grave offenses might result in you becoming banned entirely.
Mislead Your Audience
Another big mistake is to mislead your audience with your content.
Never put a shocking title for the sake of drawing viewers into your video and you end up misleading them with another thing.
This can leave a bad taste and you end up having a bad reputation in the community. This leads to lower view counts and you end up generating less and less income.
Copyright Issues
Many content creators to this very day still struggle with copyright issues. You should only upload content or videos that are original.
Never try to steal or plagiarize other people’s content or videos just because they drive more views to their channel.
Make your original video or follow a certain trend to draw people into your channel instead.
Conclusion
YouTube monetization is a long-term investment for a content creator. You will need to put in a lot of effort, time, money, and patience into such a project but the results will always be worth it. Go ahead and start your YouTube monetization journey today by following these proven steps.