Are you wondering how to monetize your YouTube channel quickly? You’re not alone. I started 6 YouTube Channels in the last few years with a monetization goal in mind. Did I succeed? Well, you will need to read this article in order to find out. With over 2 billion monthly active users and over 1 billion hours of video watched every day, YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine and a major source of income for content creators. However, making money from YouTube is not easy, and it requires a lot of hard work and dedication. Let’s discuss various strategies to monetize your YouTube channel quickly and efficiently.
How to Monetize YouTube Channel Quickly?
Here are some ways to monetize your YouTube channel quickly:
1. Create Quality Content
The first step to monetizing your YouTube channel quickly is to create quality content. You heard that one before, right? Well, yes, content matters. You need to talk about what the audience wants. Content is king.
Quality content is the key to success on YouTube, and it is essential to create content that is engaging, entertaining, and informative. No matter if you are creating long-form, or short-form (YouTube Shorts) videos, you need to have quality content.
The better your content, the more viewers you will attract, and the more likely they will subscribe to your channel. If you are still unsure about which channel to start, check out our article on top YouTube channel ideas.
2. Optimize your videos for SEO
No matter what type of content you are creating, written or video, optimization is key to your success. Since YouTube is a search engine, your videos, tags, description, title, and tags will impact how users find your content.
You need to invest time and effort in SEO optimization. However, there are tools to help you with that. vidIQ is a top tool that can help you rank faster. It will give you trending topics to focus on, top keywords, and even write description and titles for you. Try vidIQ for free.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your content for search engines. It is important to optimize your videos for SEO because it will help your videos to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
3. Build a community
Building a community is an important step in monetizing your YouTube channel quickly. A community will help you to build engagement, increase your viewership, and gain more subscribers. You can build a community by responding to comments, hosting live streams, and interacting with your viewers.
4. Utilize affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a popular way to monetize YouTube channels. It involves promoting products or services in your videos and including affiliate links in the video description. When someone clicks on the link and makes a purchase, you earn a commission. This is the fastest and easiest method to make money with your YouTube Channel.
5. Sell your own merchandise
Selling your own merchandise is another way to monetize your YouTube channel. You can design and sell t-shirts, mugs, phone cases, and other items with your logo or catchphrase on them. For that, you can use platforms like Printify or Printful to create and sell your merchandise.
You can easily create amazing art with AI tool such as Midjourney. Read our guide on using Midjourney.
6. Use crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is a popular way to monetize YouTube channels. You can use platforms such as Patreon or Kickstarter to ask your viewers for support. You can offer rewards, such as exclusive content or merchandise, to those who donate to your channel.
7. Create sponsored content
Creating sponsored content is another way to monetize your YouTube channel. Brands are always looking for influencers to promote their products or services. If you have a large and engaged audience, you can partner with brands and create sponsored videos or mention their products in your videos.
8. Join the YouTube Partner Program (YPP)
Once you reach a certain threshold you can join YPP program in order to enable monetization. You channel must have at least 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours (past 12 months) in order to join the program. Also, your channel has to have original content and you should only use your voice (no AI voices).
Once you satisfy these conditions, then you can monetize your videos through ads, sponsorships, and merchandise sales. This means that YouTube will show ads on your videos, and you will earn a share of the revenue generated from those ads. On average, YouTube pays content creators $0.01 to $0.03 per view
My experience
In the past five years, I’ve started six YouTube channels on different topics, ranging from gaming to business to quotes from famous people. While I was able to reach the monetization threshold (3500+ subscribers and over 20000 watch hours) with one of my channels, I encountered a unique challenge. Because I used AI voice for my videos, I wasn’t able to monetize the channel.
Business Channel
The first channel I started (Online Success) had some good moments, but I never got close to 4000 watch hours. I have enough subscribers, but it’s difficult to get those watch hours within 365 days.
Online Success covers business topics, mostly crypto. vidIQ has helped me to pick my focus and that is why I picked crypto. $VRA (Verasity) is my winning topic and I was even featured on Verasity official website and Twitter.
Even though I wasn’t able to join YouTube’s Partner program, I had some sponsored content and I made some money from affiliate marketing.
I stopped making videos for this channel because I’m too busy with other projects. I might come back to it.
Gaming Channel
I also started a gaming channel (ExtendsPlay), focusing on GTA 5 and GTA online. I took one of the most popular games. This channel had views and subscribers, but I quit making videos for it because it was very time consuming.
First I had to play the game for a few hours, and then I had to spend a few hours on editing the videos. I’m not really a gamer, and I was difficult to produce content with a full time job. The game and this channel was more of a hobby. Yes, you can make money with gaming channels, but keep in mind that you need to invest a lot of time and effort into this. It can’t be a hobby.
Quotes Channel x2
Have you seen those videos where popular quotes are shown and there is a soothing music and a voice reading those quotes? Probably yes. I made 2 channels with quotes (MudreIzreke and QuotesMatrix). I had amazing success with one. Within a month I was eligible to apply for YPP. And I was rejected. Why? Because, the content was not original (those are quotes from other people), and I used AI voice.
Before you start any channel make sure you read YouTube guidelines. I made a mistake. There are so many quotes channels similar to mine, with millions of subscribers. But, don’t be fooled. These channels are not in YPP. These channels are probably making money from affiliate marketing, paid partnerships, or through other sources. Even though these videos have YouTube ads, YouTube only makes money from it, not the channel owner.
Product Review Channel
I also had/have a channel where I reviewed products (ItMightWork). I got all views and subscribers organically because I focused a lot on optimization. I wrote good descriptions and included relevant tags.
I didn’t have enough products to review, and that is why I stopped creating content for this channel.
Stats Channel
I had a lot of fun with this type of content (DataCity). Basically, I found interesting statistics (sports, movies…) and then I presented those numbers with moving graphs. Each video was short with some awesome music.
These videos are super fun to watch, but not YPP eligible. Why? There is no voice in the video and videos are ‘static’ according to YouTube.
Motivational Channel
I also started a channel with motivational messages (ProgressPal). Those channels are always popular and you can easily get views and subscribers. However, I started this channel when I started other channels as well and I didn’t know that AI voice is not allowed. I learned my lesson the hard way. 🙂
Despite this setback, my experience with YouTube channels has taught me a lot about content creation and audience engagement. Each channel presented a new opportunity to learn and grow, and I continue to apply those lessons in my current endeavors.
