Did you know it is possible to make money on YouTube? Basically, if your videos get a lot of views you can apply to become a partner. Once you are a YouTube partner you start getting revenue from the ads shown on your videos. Once you’ve made at least $100 you can request a check. This works similar to Google AdSense (makes sense since Google owns YouTube). So how much can you really make posting videos on YouTube? It is possible to make a living. Some of the most popular YouTube channels are rumored to make over $100K/year. My guess is that most partners make a couple $100/year. Once you have a big following on YouTube you also have a good way to drive traffic to your other revenue generating websites. A lot of full-time YouTubers sell merchandise on their websites which usually consists of hats and t-shirts. It seems like some people also get sponsors and my guess is the compensation their is pretty good.
Shaycarl is a man with a young family that posts a video each day of him playing with his kids or riding his bike to work. Each video gets over 100,000 views. Let’s speculate how much he might be making…imagine 2% of people click on the ads which equates to 2,000 clicks. If he makes $0.05 per click the total would be $100/day. I have no idea how accurate that is but my guess is the numbers are higher. If he also sells a few t-shirts each day you can see that it is possible to start paying bills by posting what are really just 10 minute long family videos.
What does it take to get popular? Not much. Some of these guys are just teenagers with a webcam. Others have professional video equipment, writers and actors. If you can get in with someone that already gets a lot of views this helps immensely because they will refer people to you. The best way to build your following is to participate in the community. Create video responses to other people’s videos, submit videos to contests and most importantly create videos that are semi-interesting.
Have you ever thought about posting videos to YouTube? What are your reserves? I always like making movies as a teenager. I think it would be fun to make videos for a living but I would say time and privacy keep me from going after that dream.
