Do you want to make money on YouTube? Millions of creators are earning a very good living from the platform by uploading content that drives huge views and engagements. Whether that income is from advertising revenue, merch sales, or brand deals, we keep you updated with best practises and ideas.

How To Make Money on YouTube

Do you know how to do keyword research so you understand what videos people are actually searching for on YouTube? Do you know how to create a custom YouTube thumbnail? Do you know how to create a Playlist on YouTube?

vidIQ has a ton of tips that will help every creator maximise their video content. We publish content every week to keep you up to date with all the best practices.

YouTube Tips & Tricks

YouTube Shorts content is set to explode! 

All the latest tips, tricks, and rock-solid advice you need for this new feature.

YouTube Shorts

Ask any YouTuber and they will tell you that generating significant views and subscribers isn't easy. But with the right strategy and tools, any video creator can build an engaged subscriber base when they understand what those subscribers want to watch.

Appealing to an audience to watch content you are passionate about making is just the first step, you need to know how to reach them and get your videos discovered. Our guides to how to guide more views on YouTube will give you the best tips to succeed on the platform.

How To Get More Views on YouTube

This post is all about how you can monetize your content on YouTube to start generating revenie. The are four golden rules to making money on YouTube, and they are:

You need to have 1,000 subscribers on your YouTube channel

Your videos have generated 4,000 Watch Time hours over the last 12 months

You comply with all YouTube's policies and guidelines

#1 The YouTube Partner Program Requirements

Commonly known as the YouTube Partner Program, or YPP for short, you'll need to hit all four requirements before your channel will be accepted.

Let's start with the 1,000 subscribers. This one is pretty straightforward, it doesn't matter how long it takes you to get to 1,000 subscribers, once you hit that milestone, you've reached that requirement.

As well as 1,000 subscribers, you also need 4,000 hours of Watch Time on your videos over the last 12 months. There is some confusion with this one, so let me try and clarify that. First of all, this is not about how much video content you, the YouTube creator watch. This is all about how much video content is watched on your channel from people all across the world. It’s all those hours of video that people have watched on your channel in the last 12 months (from any given date). You could well have well 4,000 hours of Watch Time over the lifetime of your channel, but it's only the last 12 months that count for YouTube Partner Program requirements.

Another couple of things to tell you about Watch Time. Live streams do count towards that total. Unlisted videos also count towards that total. But if you delete any videos, that Watch Time will be removed from your channel Watch Time hours. And one more final thing, if you are already in the YouTube Partner Program, and if your channel falls below 4,000 hours of Watch Time, YouTube won't automatically remove you from the partner program, but they can do it at their discretion. If you want a much more detailed video on the topic of 4,000 hours specifically, check out this video:

If you want to check the progress of above requirements, you can do so by clicking on your logo in the top right-hand corner of most YouTube pages, and then clicking on YouTube Studio Beta. You can view all of your analytics here, but to quickly check progress on monetization, hover your mouse over "Other features", and then click on "Status and Features". On this screen, you should see a monetization box, and if you click "Learn more", it will tell you exactly where you currently stand with subscribers and Watch Time hours.

But if all of that sounds like too much hard work, then we've got a free tool that will do all of this much quicker and more efficiently. If you 

 on pretty much every YouTube screen, you will see a collection of real-time stats all about your channel. It will show you your channel's views per hour, views over the last 48 hours, and your subscriber count. But the really cool thing is that it will track your progress to 4,000 hours of Watch Time too! Once you hit 4,000 hours, that number will turn green to show you you've reached that monetization requirement.

#2 Following YouTube Rules for Monetization

Next on the list is the rule book. If you want to monetize your content, you need to make sure you stick to it, as YouTube state:

When you apply for the YouTube Partner Program, you'll go through a standard review process to see whether your channel meets YouTube's policy and guidelines. Only channels that meet them will be accepted into the program.

YouTube also constantly check channels in the program to see whether they continue to meet YouTube's policies and guidelines. These policies and guidelines that are very comprehensive, given all of the growing pains YouTube have had of finding the right balance between creators, viewers, and advertisers. I highly recommend familiarizing yourself with these 

 if you want to monetize your content in the future.

However, if you are in a TLDR mood, to summarize, apply common sense. If you think a video might be inappropriate, chances are it is, and you make such content at your own risk.

#3 Copyright and Monetization Policies on YouTube

Among YouTube's policies and guidelines is the huge topic of copyrighted material. Essentially, if you use other people's work, then you could be using copyrighted material without their permission, and YouTube does not want you to do that. It will almost certainly get you demonetized or prevent you from entering the YouTube Partner Program. Let's look at this in a little more detail.

For most of you, this is the most important monetization policy. You have to make sure that you're adding value to any third party content you monetize, and that your content has significant original commentary, educational value, or editorialized statement. And let's be clear, that still might not be enough. This does not give you a license to use other people's content in your videos all the time, because if you do, YouTube may use this as an argument not to monetize your content.

YouTube confirms that if all or most of your channel is dedicated to reused content, and you're not transforming the original work by adding your own unique value, 

then your channel is not eligible for the YouTube Partner Program.

 The spirit of this policy is to make sure that YouTube are incentivizing unique and original content into the YouTube Partner Program, and that YouTube are protecting and rewarding the creators who work hard on original content.

Now, some may see YouTube's spirit of a policy as an excuse to demonetize channels they don't want in the monetization program, but let's have a look at it from this point of view. You spent days, hours creating a magnificent piece of content, and it goes viral on YouTube. And then a dozen random video creators steal that content, upload it, generate hundreds of thousands of views, and end up profiting handsomely from it. How would you feel if that happened? That's what YouTube is trying to protect - original content from video creators.

Admittedly, reused, duplicate content, and copyright content is a broad gray area on YouTube, and they don't always get it right. And you may look at some channels on YouTube and see that they're clearly flaunting these rules. Well, you don't know what their individual circumstances are, they may have permission to use that content, or they may get caught in the future, and you don't want to follow the examples of channels that are doing this. It's not a road to success.

Ultimately YouTube is the gatekeeper. They hold all of the keys. You are on rented ground, and if you flaunt these rules, and break them, then don't be surprised when YouTube comes after you.

#4 Linking a Google Adsense Account with a YouTube Channel

If you are going to earn money from your videos, YouTube needs a way to pay you, and at least to begin with, this will be done through an AdSense account. A few things you need to know about this, if you already have an AdSense account, you can use that. You can connect multiple channels to one AdSense account, and if you haven't got an AdSense account, you can set one up during the YouTube Partner Program application process.

#5 Applying to the YouTube Partner Program

Let's remind ourselves of those requirements one more time: You need:

1,000 subscribers on your YouTube channel

4,000 Watch Time hours on your videos over the last 12 months

To comply with all YouTube's policies and guidelines

When you've applied YouTube Partner Program, it may take up to a month for the platform to make a decision. That’s because actual humans will review your channel so it’s a manual process. Some channels have been approved in days, so it could be quicker. However, if it does take longer than a month, then your channel will usually be placed in further review. When this happens, unfortunately, the wait times can get very long. Three, six, possibly even 12 months. In some unfortunate cases, YouTube never seems to come to a decision, leaving the creator in monetization limbo.

We appreciate that this can be a very frustrating position to find yourself in as a video creator, as many of you have commented about this on our videos here at vidIQ. Unfortunately, we ourselves cannot help push the process forward for you, so what we recommend you do is to talk to TeamYouTube on Twitter, make sure that everybody knows that you have an issue with your monetization decision.

YouTube say that this will never speed up the process, but at least having some decision is something you should deserve as a video creator.

#6 Being Rejected from the YouTube Partner Program: Next Steps

Now let's say that you've applied for the YouTube Partner Program, but you've been rejected. What can you do?

When you are rejected from the YouTube Partner Program, YouTube will give you a general reason why. Unfortunately, they won't tell you specifically what video or content is causing the issue, so you may be left blindly adjusting your channel. However, the good news is you can reapply for the program in 30 days' time.

Again, this is where you will have to use your common sense. If you think there are videos that are walking the community guideline and policies tightrope, then they most likely are and you need to adjust them. If there are videos that have copyright content on them then those are probably causing a problem with YouTube as well, so you will need to delete them.

Creators have asked when they apply for the partner program, will having a community guideline strike or a copyright strike against my channel prevent me from getting into the program? The answer is probably no, it definitely won't prevent you, but it is going to have an impact.

There is a dedicated support page with advice on what you should do if you are rejected from the YouTube Partner Program, and 

Once you are in the Partner Program, and you want to take your monetization a step further by earning money from Super Chats, membership, and merchandise, take a look at this video on the subject:

If you want to take your YouTube channel to the next level and 

 then make sure to download vidIQ. Join over 1 million other users and use vidIQ to help you research YouTube, analyze videos, audit your own channel, and take actionable steps 

Want to know how to monetize your channel and start making money on YouTube? Take a look at our beginner's guide!

How to Monetize Your YouTube Channel - A Beginner's Guide

If you're really serious about YouTube and you want to grow your channel (and we know you are because you’re reading this post), then you should know that there’s a way of ‘testing’ your content to see what's actually working for you. It's a feature called '

Navigate to the ‘Analytics’ dashboard

Click on either ‘Advanced Mode’ or ‘See More’ (both take you to the same screen)

On the left-hand side of this new screen, you'll see your channel name. Click that and you'll activate a new mini dashboard

This feature is a little hard to find, but it's going to allow you to test absolutely anything you want on your channel. Notes, these YouTube groups are not public, so viewers won't be able to see them as they do Playlists.

It's not going to interrupt their watching habits, but it does allow you to test the most minute changes on your videos to see what works so that you can double down on the best content on your channel. Check out our video tutorial about the feature:

How to Set Up a YouTube Group to Test Your Channel

OK, so now we know all about YouTube Groups, let's set one up. The first thing we need to do is to create a ‘Group.’ We're going to call this group ‘Thumbnails with Faces,’ and the feature allows us to search through our entire channel to add as many videos as we wish. Do note that you can search for videos by their ID, and the maximum number of videos in one single Group is 500.

In our example, we chose five videos that have a ‘face only’ 

, then we created another group of videos that had no faces in the thumbnail.

Once you set some Groups up, you can view all of the advanced analytics for them, which is really useful in itself. But we can take all of this one step further.

On the right-hand side of the screen, there is a compare to function which allows you to compare Groups. And that's exactly what we're going to do now - compare the group of videos with faces in thumbnails versus those without.

At a glance, we can see from this small sample size that video thumbnails that don't contain faces appear to perform better.

In the space of just 30 seconds of effort, we've learned something incredibly valuable about our channel. And that’s just one idea, how about these for ways of checking how your video content is performing? How about grouping videos by:

#1 Certain metadata, perhaps having something consistent in the title like ‘how-to’

#2 By video length, say five minutes. Do videos under five minutes work better than videos over five minutes? You'd be surprised at the potential answers to that, especially with educational content.

#3 If you still haven't nailed down at your channel niche or focus, then you could try grouping videos by topic or style. That might be beauty and travel, or it might be product reviews and vlogging. If you create a group of 10 videos of each of those topics, you'll get your answer from your audience pretty quickly as to what they prefer to watch on your channel. You could also group your videos by the month that they were published. So you may discover that all of the content that you create between April and July is a bit of a lean period for your channel. Whereas all of the content you make coming up to Christmas, say October to December, is your boom period.

Now once you've created these groups of videos, just be cautious of outliers. There may be a group of videos where one of the videos in that group is contributing more than 50% of the views or the impressions because it's just a viral video for you. You'll have to trim those out of your analysis.

Now we do have at one more thing to show you, and that is a cool way that vidIQ groups videos for you. The ‘Channel Audit’ tool quickly breaks down the success of your channel into specific groups, so if you want to know which videos gain your channel, the most subscribers, or which videos have the most engagement or the highest watch time, we can quickly tell you.

The ‘Channel Audit’ tool also shows you what you're doing wrong on your channel and things to fix such as missing end screens on videos. You can start using the tool for free, there's a download link below.

Want to Find Success as a Creator on YouTube?

If you want to get more insights into YouTube then make sure to download vidIQ. Over 1 million creators use vidIQ to help with keyword and competitor research, channel audits, and so much more. 

And if you’re serious about growing your YouTube views and subscribers, sign up for exclusive access to the 

. Learn how to launch a successful YouTube Channel in just 30 days.

Did you know YouTube Analytics has a feature that allows you to compare different types of videos on your channel to see which perform the best? You do now!

How to Test Which YouTube Videos Generate The Most Views

What's more important to you as a YouTube creator - views or subscribers? Should you even have to choose? Well, for some creators, subscriber growth is steady and positive but the majority of those subscribers don't regularly return to watch their content. It's like they don't even care about the videos they publish!

In this week's episode of TubeTalk, I'm joined by vidIQ's very own Rob Wilson and Dan Carson to discuss why subscriber numbers don't always convert to higher views. It's a question we get asked a lot so we wanted to address it. In this podcast we cover:

Why YouTube subscriber growth doesn't always lead to significant views

Why your videos are getting fantastic views but viewers aren't subscribing

The value of subscribers vs the value of a view

What you need to know about 'Audience Retention'

Tips about how to engage with your audience

Want to Know How We Grew the vidIQ YouTube Channel to Over 600K Subscribers?

Want more insights into growing your channel? Join Rob Wilson again as he 

shares the strategies he’s developed by managing vidIQ's YouTube channel

TubeTalk has been informing video creators and marketers since 2014, and is one of the most respected and listened to podcasts in the online video industry. Don't foprget to 

 on your favorite podcast application so you never miss an episode!

You can also find the complete list of all the 

Are your YouTube subscribers growing steadily but your views aren't catching up? What's all that about? Find out on this week's TubeTalk with the experts from vidIQ.

How to Get Your YouTube Subscribers to Watch Your Videos

For most people, the memory of their first pet never goes away. Whether their animal friend had wings, scales, or fur, there’s something about animals - perhaps they way they love and play - that makes them nearly unforgettable to us.

If you’re a pet enthusiast or a pet professional, you understand this connection more than anyone. Cats, dogs, and other animals must be cared for if kept in captivity, and the owners who love them need the knowledge and skills to do so.

That’s why there’s a strong need for this type of content on YouTube.

 Like humans, animals get sick, need consistent attention and grooming, and can benefit from learning new behaviors. So if you, a passionate animal lover, can share that information on YouTube, you can make money while also living your ultimate purpose.

While there are tons of things to think about before 

, such as how to be absolutely great at it, it’s also important to learn the common money-making methods before diving in.

If you’re ready to monetize your passion for animals, we've pulled some examples of people who're doing it right now. From a licensed veterinarian to a revered dog trainer, here's how pet enthusiasts are making money on YouTube.

Zak George’s Dog Training Revolution: A Powerful Patreon Earner

Zak George is a popular dog trainer who has been on YouTube since 2006. His channel, 

, has 2.66M subscribers and over 183M views.

In his videos, Zak shows owners how to teach their dogs new skills, whether that’s to stop them from yanking walkers with their leashes or some fun, amusing tricks. But out of all his videos, his obedience training guides are probably most vital for viewers.

Many owners want their dogs to be well-behaved in public, and to do that, dogs must obey simple commands like “sit” that distract them from their canine mischief.

 impacted the world, George uploaded a video about how this kind of training could change for dog owners. In a video titled, “

,” Zak says young dogs need to be properly socialized. That’s a challenge for most owners during a pandemic, so Zak shared some advice for safe socialization in the video below:

Zak places little to no advertisements in his videos, but he still makes money from sharing useful, timely information around dog training.

For example, there are four revenue sources associated with the video above. In the description section, there’s a link to Zak’s Patreon of exclusive dog training videos and services. Clicking that link reveals that he has several hundred Patrons, and they contribute more than $2,000 toward his content each month.

But of course, there’s more. Zak also makes money by selling dog training guides for owners who truly need them. Then there’s merchandise related to his company and brand sponsorships that fund a large chunk of his videos.

Needless to say, Zak’s YouTube Channel is packed with earning potential. As a pet professional or enthusiast, you can also share your expertise on YouTube and start earning money online.

Pet care and training are essential year-round, but dog owners in particular thought about these things more often at the beginning of the pandemic. While Zak was focusing on obedience training videos, other YouTubers were addressing a vital question from viewers: How do I groom my dog at home during a lockdown?

, we analyzed the performance of such searches on YouTube over the past year, focusing on the phrases ‘groom a dog at home’ and ‘how to groom a dog’. The results (below) show that search popularity for both terms spiked between March and April, the early lockdown period in the U.S.

You don’t have to be a well-known YouTuber like Zak to capitalize on these trends. Newer creators can do it too.

There are channels like Groomers Pro, which has only been around for two years, that earned more video views by posting relevant, trending topics. For example, in a video titled, “

Tips & Tricks to Grooming your Dog at Home During the Covid-19 Lockdown

”, Groomers Pro snagged over 3,000 views. Of course, the channel still needs to attract 1,000 subscribers to be eligible for monetization, but videos like the at-home grooming one can help the Groomers Pro reel in more viewers, and thus, more money.

The Turtle Girl: Monetizing Reptilian Care

Pets of all types bring joy to their owners, and reptiles are no exception. 

, a channel with 47.3K subscribers, uploads videos about how to care for pet turtles.

How to Take Care of Your Turtle’s Shell

,” The Turtle Girl uses her knowledge of reptiles to teach viewers the basics of shell maintenance:

The Turtle Girl is very passionate about what she does; you can hear her casually dropping scientific terms and advice in her tutorials. If you have an undying pet obsession like hers, it’s time to do something with that enthusiasm (and get paid for it).

For example, The Turtle Girl makes money by placing advertisements in her videos. This form of YouTube monetization is the industry standard, and that’s where most YouTubers start when they want to make money on the platform.

However, once you’ve done that you can always take your earning potential to the next level. Like The Turtle Girl, you can become an Amazon Associate, which is an affiliate marketing program. It allows content creators to advertise products from Amazon.com, and they earn referral fees when customers use their affiliate links to make purchases. The Turtle Girl uses this program to make more money, in addition to a Patreon of exclusive, pay-to-view content.

People own all sorts of pets, so no matter which kind you’re passionate about, you can find your specific tribe of enthusiasts on YouTube. They’ll not only give you a sense of community but help to support you monetarily, if your videos brighten their lives.

Our Pets Health: Turning Animal Tips to Into Cold, Hard Cash

 channel is run by Dr. Alex Avery, a veterinarian whose been in practice since 2006. On his channel of 16.8K subscribers, he shares advice on how to care for dogs and cats, as well as preventing the common diseases they develop.

Dr. Avery is a trained medical professional, which adds undeniable credibility to his videos. This allows him to dispel common misconceptions about pet illnesses and share the truth about what’s happening inside an animal’s body.

For example, in the video below, Dr. Avery explains why a cat might experience weight loss. Because he has years of medical experience to lean on, he opens the video by stating, “It’s not worms, OK? Repeat after me. My cat is not losing weight because they’ve got worms.”

If you’re the type of animal expert that has factual, licensed advice just swirling around inside your head, bring that knowledge to YouTube. Making videos about pet care, training, or grooming will be simple for you because all you have to do is share the credible information you already have.

Dr. Avery is doing that while also earning money from YouTube. First, he makes money by monetizing his videos with advertisements. Then, like many YouTubers, Dr. Avery is an Amazon Associate who shares his affiliate links in the description of every video.

So now you know: Pet enthusiasts and hobbyists aren’t the only animal lovers who make money on YouTube. You can run a general practice and make money with a YouTube Channel too.

Extra Ways to Make Money Online as a Pet Enthusiast

Creating a YouTube Channel is a great first step toward making more money online. But once you’ve done that, you’ll have an audience of subscribers that may want additional ways to connect with you. When you reach that amazing level, you can start thinking about extra monetization efforts, such as:

Administering pet health consultations via video conference

Making your pet an influencer on Instagram and securing brand deals

Starting a pet blog (with advertisements)

Licensing photos of your pet on Shutterstock, Getty, etc.

Creating and selling online obedience courses for pets

Selling pet food, toys, and other merchandise online

So, are you ready to get started? Create your YouTube Channel today, and you’ll be one step closer to making more money online as a pet enthusiast.

Pets are not only wonderful and amazing but if you have enough knowledge about a certain animal you can turn that expertise into revenue via YouTube 🐈 🐕 🦝

This is How Pet Enthusiasts Are Making Money on YouTube

Although TikTok doesn't share specific stats about its users, it's been estimated that over 500M people are active on the platform, with the most growth across India and other parts of Asia. Did you know that the app has been downloaded by 1 in 7 people in Thailand alone!

Available in 75 languages, TikTok has proved to be fertile ground for would-be influencers and creators looking to build an audience and a community around their content. The app has been downloaded over 1.2 billion times, with 

41% of TikTok users aged between 16 and 24

. That’s an audience actively primed for even more social media consumption, and a massive opportunity for creators to build upon.

But while TikTok-famous teens are basking in the views and followers their videos generate, outside of third-party brand deals, there’s still no way to monetize content on the app. While there is advertising on the platform, no ads are run directly against videos uploaded by creators, so there's no way to benefit from a percentage of that revenue, as is the case with YouTube.

Of course, generating revenue on YouTube via AdSense isn’t a walk in the park these days, but creators still have that financial opportunity open to them. But even the most popular TikTok accounts don’t have anything like the amount of subscribers the top channels on YouTube attract, and for many TikTok uploaders, they are starting from scratch when it comes to building a following on YouTube. But it can be done, and here are three quick tips to kick you off:

3 Ways to Migrate Your TikTok Audience to YouTube

#1 Build Upon the Content That Made You Popular on TikTok

While lip-synching, or dancing around to the latest Arianne Grande release may have generated a healthy following on TikTok, it isn't going to get you far on YouTube. At all. Apart from the issue of using copyrighted content (which is absolutely an issue on TikTok and will lead to a takedown if you’re caught), tuning in to see you do the same old thing but on a different platform is going to get very old, very fast.

However, the chances are that you built your TikTok following based on your personality and quirks, and that is a fantastic head start for any creator. On YouTube, viewers may come for the content, but they will stay for the creator, and if you’ve been successfully publishing video content elsewhere and have an understanding of what your audience likes, that’s a hugely transferable skill. But you need to be willing to learn about what works, which takes us on to our next tip:

There are many similarities between TikTok and YouTube. Both are platforms to watch and engage with content, but like any other video creator, you’re going to need to evolve and significantly up your game if you want to succeed on YouTube. Yes, you’ll bring some of your audience with you, but to grow your subscriber base and generate the kind of views and engagement needed to generate on and off-platform income.

Determine what your YouTube goal is. Just wanting to be famous really won’t get you very far, and certainly isn't the best long-term strategy. It sucks to hear but those superstars you all know on love have put years and years of work into the platform - it didn't happen by accident.

Understanding how the YouTube algorithms works, what content to create, and how to optimize that content while growing your community takes time, patience, and skill but if you make a start now, using the resources provided 

, you’ll be going in the right direction.

#3 Give Your TikTok Fans a Reason to Follow You to YouTube (and Ask Them To!)

This may be the most obvious tip in the world but if you have a YouTube channel, 

! Fans can’t follow you if they don’t know where else you live on the Internet.

OK, now that’s out of the way, think about how you can encourage your TikTok audience over to YouTube. You can always ask them of course, that never harms. But also think strategically about why they should follow you and offer up that incentive. YouTube allows you to upload videos that are 15 minutes long (longer if you are a verified channel) so post teasers on TikTok for that extended content.

Give your followers a taste of what to expect on YouTube and be consistent about it so it becomes part of your publishing strategy. It’s best practice for any creator to “

” so you get the maximum bang for your buck.

Thank you for reading our tips. Now please enjoy the best video that has ever been uploaded to TikTok. You're welcome:

If you want to take your YouTube channel to the next level and 

 then make sure to download vidIQ. Join over 1 million other users and use vidIQ to help you research YouTube, analyze videos, audit your own channel, and take actionable steps 

Are you building a fanbase on TikTok but want them to follow you to YouTube? Take a look at our tips for migrating your audience.

3 Ways to Turn TikTok Followers into YouTube Subscribers

Artistic creation, such as painting, knitting, and card making, has been an unpaid hobby for millions of people over the years. But today, many expert crafters and artists are using their skills to start lucrative businesses, such as paint and sip companies and shops that sell decorative home goods.

However, this is only the beginning when it comes to diversifying your income as an artist. Once you have a business, taking it to the internet is the next logical step. This is a crucial decision that opens a world of e-commerce perks, such as online selling, affiliate marketing, and brand sponsorships.

Of all the platforms you could use to make this transition, YouTube is undoubtedly the best. The video-sharing platform allows you to connect with like-minded viewers, such as people who want to be better artists. And whenever these viewers watch your videos, you can make money through AdSense revenue.

But to reach this milestone, you have to understand the YouTube space and what it means to be a creator. You have to learn what worked for successful YouTubers, 

Once you’ve done that, you’re free to start filming, crafting, and making money. If you’re wondering how that last part comes to fruition, check out these three artists and the creative ways they’re making money on YouTube.

Painting with Jane: Popular Live Streams, Patreon Sign-ups, and Products Galore (Income Streams)

, specializes in acrylic painting. Nature is her muse, and viewers can watch step-by-step tutorials for painting various outdoor wonders, from cliffside lighthouses to desert sunsets.

However, all of these amazing tutorials were pre-recorded until three months ago. That’s when Jane started going live on YouTube, adding in-the-moment painting tutorials to her video collection. The videos, which range in style from watercolor to acrylic, are compiled in a convenient playlist called “

.” In one such video from that playlist (below), Jane shows more than 29,000 viewers how to paint a forest filled with birch trees, in spring:

Due to the current pandemic, Jane streamed this tutorial at home, away from her studio. Nevertheless, she’s still finding creative ways to make money from her YouTube content. In addition to AdSense revenue, Jane has four more income streams attached to the tutorial above: affiliate links, a video sponsor, a Patreon subscription link, and a link to buy her custom paint brushes. In just one video, that amounts to five money-making opportunities.

All this magic takes place in the description section of Jane’s live-streamed videos. In that area, she shares a link to her website, which is where all of her affiliate links are housed. When customers use those links to purchase art supplies, Jane earns a commission.

Her Patreon is also listed to encourage a more consistent steam of income. When viewers navigate there, they’ll find monthly subscription plans that house exclusive content from Jane: bonus videos, more live paintings, Q&As, viewing parties, and more.

Her last two income streams (brand partnership and product line) may take a while for new creators to achieve. After all, Jane has been on YouTube since 2014 and currently has 261K subscribers. However, it’s a goal worth shooting for, and Jane is proving that fine artists can make money on YouTube too.

Jennifer McGuire Ink: Greeting Card Courses

 is a respected crafting channel that currently has 385K subscribers. Jennifer, who is a stamping enthusiast and crafting instructor, uploads videos about how to make handmade greeting cards.

Jennifer has monetized her channel, so she does earn AdSense revenue from her videos. That certainly helps to expand her income, as she shares tons of free tips and tricks about card making each week. But what if you, as a crafting creator, wanted to make even more money? How do you do that when you’re giving away a large chunk of your expertise for free, or are only collecting Adsense revenue?

In Jennifer’s case, the answer was to post general hacks on YouTube and save specific (paid) advice for another platform. For example, in the video below, Jennifer shares general 

time-saving hacks for two cardmaking processes: die-cutting and stamping

That video is a general overview of quick tips. However, on Jennifer’s website, she sells courses that cover specific topics in cardmaking, as opposed to her generic instruction on YouTube.

There are courses on color theory for card designers, how to make watercolor designs, and the art of crafting holiday cards. Viewers can access these courses through a website link in the description of her videos, so it’s a great example of how YouTube promotion can fund outside ventures. In that same section, Jennifer even shares affiliate links to purchase the tools and materials used in her videos.

Crafting doesn’t have to be an unpaid hobby. If you’re great with your hands and have an eye for design, teach others what you know on YouTube.

Bella Coco: Crochet Subscription Boxes Plus Knitted Goods

 uploads crochet tutorials. Her channel of 774K subscribers is filled with step-by-step tutorials on popular stitching patterns, such as the double waffle, the granny square, and the spider stitch.

In one such video (below) Sarah-Jayne focuses on the double waffle technique. Chain by chain, she shows viewers how to stitch the intricate pattern using vibrant, powder blue yarn:

But as we saw with Jennifer McGuire, Sarah-Jayne isn’t just crafting for fun. She’s earning Adsense revenue, plus utilizing four extra income streams to make money on YouTube.

Artistic expression is deeply personal work, but you can still monetize it on YouTube. Here’s now.

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