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

During the coronavirus crisis, YouTube has confirmed that health and safety is its number one priority. To ensure that, a lot of its employees will be working away from the office, and the platform is relying a lot more on 

machine learning and A.I to judge potentially harmful video content

. You can read real-time updates from YouTube regarding COVID 19 and the 

But a possible increase in takedowns may not be the only YouTube process to impact creators right now.

Coronavirus & The Impact on YouTube Monetization

Right now, fewer humans are maintaining and running the YouTube platform. Applications to the 

 require a manual review so it’s highly likely this process is going to be affected too.

Usually, if there are no problems with your YouTube channel, the application process takes about a month. But if you're applying for the YouTube Partner Program today, expect it to take significantly longer, as confirmed by YouTube itself:

Of course, there are going to be exceptions to this general statement. Some may find that their channels are still monetized within days. Others may find their channel not being monetized for six months. Unfortunately, in this current climate, we're going to have to accept that these types of things are going to happen.

A question that keeps coming up is if YouTube is sending its workforce home to do their jobs, why can't they do what they usually do if in the office? And that is a good question, and the team at 

, a YouTube channel made by YouTube employees, was on hand to give us a good answer:

"Many of our reviewers are working through outside companies that are working onsite where they're reviewing these videos and sensitive material in onsite locations. Now as those sites have actually been shut down to protect the workers, the workers don't necessarily have all the equipment at home".

In order to address this, YouTube is actually shipping thousands of laptops to those workers in those countries. However, that's not going to work in all circumstances. Keep in mind that there are going to be some types of policies where people won't be able to work on them from home due to the sensitive nature of the content.

Two words come to mind at this point. Patience and understanding. Your application 

YouTube to Creators: Spread the #StayHome Message

Now of course if you are engaging in this new practice we're all becoming familiar with - social distancing - you're probably reading this at home. Which is YouTube's latest initiative to make sure that we're all doing the right thing. Spread the word to stop the spread.

If you choose to use YouTube to share content urging people to stay home, consider videos that are helpful, fun, and informative, and tag them with #stayhome and #WithMe. Read more about 

YouTube’s request to creators to spread the word about coronavirus

YouTube: Capping Internet Bandwidth in Europe

Of course, since all of those people who are doing the right thing are staying at home right now, a lot of them are going onto the internet and in particular, video, to keep themselves entertained. That means usage of such video platforms as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Facebook, and of course, YouTube, are going through the roof.

And in order to make sure that all of these people watching video don't break the internet, YouTube are capping their bandwidth in Europe. Now what that actually means is that if you are in Europe, you watch a YouTube video, the default quality will be set lower than you may usually expect. That doesn't mean that you can't up the quality if you really need to, but for the majority of people, they're just going to press play and they're going be happy with whatever quality is pushed out to them.

Of course this restriction may be pushed out to the rest of the world, and they may even cap video quality in the future, But going forward, I don’t think creators should change their attitude to uploading videos. If you do want to publish in 4K, make sure you do so, so in months to come, people will be able to watch your videos at the best quality.

There is no doubt that the Coronavirus is going to continue to impact the YouTube platform for weeks to come, so do check out our 

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 

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

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

YouTube is responding to the current health crisis with new guidelines around application reviews to its Partner Program. If you are waiting for your channel to be monetized, it may take a little longer than usual.

YouTube Creators: Expect Delays to Monetization Requests [Coronavirus News]

We at vidIQ have been creating YouTube Stories alongside the regular content we upload 

, and you have been loving them. And you’ve been loving Stories from other creators too.

Now, YouTube has added a brand new call-to-action button to its YouTube Stories feature which allows viewers to subscribe directly to the channel that published that content. That’s fantastic news for creators who want to boost their subscriber count.

YouTube Stories: Boosting Subscribers & Your Community

 in that they work best on mobile devices, and are an amazing way of keeping in touch with your audience when you're not creating longer content. Most of us take a couple of days, even weeks, to push out new videos, but with these bite-size pieces of content, you can stay in touch with your audience every single day.

, the maximum video length is 15 seconds. __15 seconds for a subscriber? I think that sounds worth it, don't you? __

Built into this new feature is one massive plus and one huge negative. We'll start with the negative first. Unfortunately for many of you, this feature is not going to be available right unless you have 10,000 subscribers. But as with all YouTube features, Stories will be rolling out to more and more creators in the future, so do make sure to check on your mobile device to see if you have access.

On the flip side, here's a really interesting thing about that Stories subscribe button I don't think YouTube has considered.

When you're not subscribed to a channel and you watch one of their Stories, you’ll see a subscribe button which allows you to, well, subscribe. Right up until that Story finishes you still have the ability to unsubscribe using the same button.

However, once you're subscribed to a channel and you watch more Stories, there is no unsubscribe button. I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, but ultimately you've got nothing to lose in pushing people to subscribe to your channel, right?

Tracking the Success of YouTube Stories in Analytics

And in more good news, you can actually track the success of your YouTube Stories in analytics. Just click on the ‘See More’ button on ‘Channel Analytics’ in YouTube Studio, then click on ‘Subscription Sources.’ YouTube Stories will be one of those sources and you can click the checkbox filter to see subscribers by YouTube stories only over the last 28 days.

Now, I am not for a second advocating that you should adopt a ‘subscribe to me’ mentality when it comes to YouTube Stories. What I am suggesting you do, as with all of your content, is provide value.

We've been experimenting with a YouTube story Q and A where people can ask us any question they like and I will respond with a YouTube story. We get tons of engagement, and whenever we run one of these mini YouTube clinics, we see a mini-surge in subscribers from YouTube stories.

Now, these are not channel-changing numbers, but I see this as another tool in your YouTube arsenal for growing your audience. Every subscriber helps.

How do you get more YouTube subscribers in just 15 seconds? We show you how.

How to Get More Subscribers On YouTube in 15 Seconds!

As a YouTube creator you have a huge number of things to take into consideration - your video and audio set up, 

, thumbnail design, content ideas, and SEO for example. But there’s another piece of the puzzle that all creators have to consider - the legal side of content creation.

On this episode of TubeTalk we’ll focus on the legal aspect to brand and sponsorship deals. We’re joined by 

, an attorney who specializes in intellectual property law and contract law. What a perfect guest to discuss the legal issues that every YouTuber should be aware of. In this podcast you will learn:

How to protect yourself as a YouTuber in a brand deal

Why a solid contract is the basis of every successful brand deal

How to ensure you receive the money you were promised

Why US YouTubers need to set up an LLC to protect their personal liability

That, yes, even if you are a single creator, you need a legal entity behind you

What an operating agreement is and why it's so important

What are the rules of 'Fair Use' when using other people's content

What 'Intellectual Property' is and how it's protected

Subscribe to TubeTalk: The Video Marketing Podcast!

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. Subscribe today so you never miss an episode! You can find vidIQ's TubeTalk at:

The Legal Issues All YouTube Creators Need to Know About: Podcast Snapshot

Liron Segev: What do all YouTubers need to understand about contracts?

 Nobody looks at a contract when everything's going well. It's only when things go wrong that everybody scurries around and tries to find a copy of the document to read it. You know what contracts really are in a nutshell are the rules for what happens when things go wrong. You have to make contracts your policy. Do not deviate from that. No handshake deals.

Liron Segev: You are an expert in intellectual property law, can you take us through the meaning of ‘Fair Use’ when it comes to using content that you didn’t create yourself?

 First thing to mention, since this is an international audience, is that fair use is not a thing everywhere in the world. Don't assume that just because you understand what fair use is or you think you understand what fair use is in the United States, that it's going to fly everywhere. That's the first one.

The second one is fair use is always going to be interpreted in the most conservative manner. Just because you slapped a filter on a painting of a storm trooper pointing his finger at you saying, "I want you for the Imperial Navy." Does not mean that that's a fair use of Disney's intellectual property. Just because you didn't get a cease and desist from Disney doesn't mean you are not exposing yourself to risk.

There's a four prong test for whether use is fair. There's commerciality, the amount and the extent of the stuff you take. Did you take the heart of something? Did you take a bunch of it or do you just take a couple of little pieces?

There's also a piece that deals with the effect on the market. For example, no one is going to walk into a supermarket looking for some soup and walk out with Andy Warhol's Campbell soup cans. There's no effect. There's no market effect on that use. That's another way we check to see if use is fair.

Now, the most common ways that we figure out whether use is fair or not, is to determine whether there's a educational exception, a parody and satire exception and a news based exception.

Regarding the educational based exception, If I am teaching you either remotely or in person, I can use pieces of other people's intellectual property to teach you about that intellectual property. That's why documentaries work. I don't need to go get Disney's permission to do a documentary on Disney. They're probably going to sue me anyway but if I'm smart, I bought a rider on my insurance policy to defend myself against a frivolous lawsuit by Disney.

Liron Segev: Can I take a Taylor Swift song and create my own version of that? Then things are just not so clear anymore.

 That last sentence is exactly it. If you take nothing away from this part of the conversation, understand that fair use is always a question of law. Whenever anyone says to you, I have a right to fair use, you know they're full of crap.

There's no such thing as a right to fair use. What you have is assert an exception to someone's absolute right to control their intellectual property. And you can always, always, always, always be dragged into court and forced to prove that your use is fair and that's usually a losing prospect because if you're a small business, great, you've spent $20,000 to have a court decide this use is fair.

Go ahead. Where are you going to get that $20,000 back? You're not, you just blew it. It's gone.

*Liron Segev: With fair use, who needs to prove that?

 The onus is on the user - to prove the use is fair. Disney does not have to prove that they own that content, you have to prove that the use of it is fair. Of course, they also have to prove they own they do that by submitting to YouTube a copy of the trademark filing or the copyright filing.

The way that this is applicable to content creators is that I see people use clips of stock footage or background music and I know those things aren't licensed. I recognize songs every now and again and I'm confident beyond doubt that this person did not license a that song for their content.

Odds are good if you're flying under the radar, nothing's going to happen to you but the problem is once you start to grow your business and hopefully that's what you're trying to do, you are no longer going to be flying under the radar and that strategy is not going to wor. Quite frankly, it's going to hurt you because if you're trying to get a brand deal, that brand is going to make you sign a contract that says you have properly licensed or own every single thing in that piece of content and they're going to require you to go out and get errors and omissions insurance. Here's how that works. If you lie, not only are you in breach of your contract.

Liron Segev: Let’s talk about intellectual property and trademarks

 Here is the best way to understand copyright and trademark in 30 seconds. Think about what the words mean. Copy right. It is the right to make copies of something. If you have the copyright, you and only you have the right to make copies of it or to authorize someone else to make copies of it.

Trademark is exactly what the word says as well. It is the mark of your trade. The Nike swoosh is a mark of the trade.

If you take only one thing away from this section, it is be really careful about using other people's intellectual property in your content unless you have permission.

Liron Segev: I'd love to hear your legal disclaimer right about now I just want to make sure we're above board and people do not misunderstand what we're saying in this podcast.

 Absolutely. There's two parts. The first part is the legal disclaimer. I am not your attorney. You should not rely on my advice to your detriment or otherwise based on anything you hear today. If you really need help in this area, I'm happy to have you as a client if you'd like to hire me but please seek a legal professional to help you. Don't try to do this on your own or Google it. I can't tell you the amount of people I've had to explain, well I'm sorry, your Google search is not the equivalent of my law degree.

Liron Segev: If people want to get more information, what's the best way to do this?

If you are publishing content on YouTube you need to know about copyright law, and if you are working with a brand you need to know about contracts. We discuss both in this week's TubeTalk.

The Legal Issues All YouTube Creators Need to Know About: TubeTalk 205 with Seth Polansky

Being a YouTuber is one of the most creatively fulfilling and rewarding experiences imaginable. Where else but YouTube can you have full creative control and share your imagination, talent, and point of view with nearly the entire world?

But being a creator can be kind of lonely sometimes too, especially when most of your friends and family aren’t YouTubers themselves.

I’m sure you can relate to this: You’re working hard to record and edit footage, select tags, design a thumbnail and all the other many things it takes to get a video ready for upload. You have a couple of different ideas for a title. You don’t know for sure which one is better. You wish you could ask someone, and not just your mother who thinks everything you do is great (thanks, Mom), but someone who actually GETS this whole YouTube thing.

Or what about times when YouTube throws another curve ball? Like the recent 

. When this happens, it’s natural to wish you had a whole crew of like-minded creators to discuss your concerns and talk through strategies for coping.

Fortunately, there’s a pretty cool place to do just that, and more. It’s the VidIQ Discord, and it’s for creators just like you who want to be a part of a positive, helpful community of YouTubers who want to see growth and meanwhile help their fellow community members grow, too.

, and you don’t even have to get VidIQ yet to join and start immersing yourself in the YouTube community:

Here’s a few examples of the coolest ways YouTubers use the VidIQ Discord:

Get channel feedback from like-minded creators.

Post a picture of it and a picture of your old one and get input on which one your fellow creators think will get you more subscribers.

Share insights about new and upcoming YouTube trends and features.

Weird new button in Creator Studio? Let’s all discuss!

Make friends with other YouTube creators all over the world!

Propose collaborations, commiserate over lessons learned the hard way, and most importantly, celebrate all victories big and small together with people who understand how much work it takes.

will get 3 months of VidIQ Boost for FREE, valued at $147!

 Pretty much all you have to do is join the Discord, have a VidIQ account, and use the entry form linked inside Discord to enter. Check out the “

” to see the entry form. The winner will be selected March 2, 2020, so hurry up and get in here!

Here’s the Discord link again, so you can find your YouTube peeps, and while you’re at it, enter to win those sweet, sweet THREE free months of VidIQ Boost: 

Being a YouTuber can often be lonely - so join vidIQ's new Discord community and find tips, tricks, friends, collaborators, and the latest advice on how to be a better creator.

YouTube Can Be Lonely so Join the VidIQ Discord Community Today!

What is the secret to success on YouTube? On this episode of TubeTalk, the YouTuber podcast, we’ll discuss the five principles with our very special guest 

. Scott practices what he preaches and has used the five principles process to drive 300,000 subscribers, and 100 million organic views across his YouTube channels in just 18 months. If you want to know what these principles are and how you can apply this formula to your own channel 

As well as running a number of successful YouTube channels. Scott is also the owner of 

, a Texas based convention for video creators and marketers.

The Five Principles of Success on YouTube

For anyone creating content on YouTube with the aim of increasing views and subscribers, there are a number of programming and audience development strategies they need to be aware of. YouTube expert Scott takes us through five of the most important:

#1 Find Your Focus Then Stay in Your Lane

Scott highly recommends focusing in on a topic or category that you are most familiar with, or are at a specialist at, and go all out on creating and promoting content about that theme on YouTube. At one time, creators could publish videos around a broad topic (for instance - family vlogging) and upload a wide variety of content from different angles. But as YouTube continues to refine its algorithm with the aim of surfacing relevant, quality content to viewers, creators need a single focus. In other words, you have to do one thing really, really well in order for the algorithm to like you.

Scott learned this lesson through experience last year when views tanked on his general ‘family’ content. While many other family-focused vlogging channels diversified and incorporated wider trends in their programming strategy, Scott made the decision to refine exactly what they wanted to offer their audience and double down, and triple down on content that has driven huge views and engagement. It’s a strategy that’s worked.

For any creator who is just starting out, Scott recommends that until you have established a base audience of people who are watching you, stick with one thing. Once you get into the hundreds of thousands, or even millions of subscribers and your daily views are in the hundreds of thousands or millions, then you can start to branch a little bit and do more of a variety because you have a core community of people that's large enough that will follow you wherever you go, whatever you do. At the beginning, the safest thing to do is to carve out your little niche on YouTube and focus exclusively on that for a good long while.

#2 Diversify Your Income from Video - Now

There was a time when you could predict your income from YouTube based off what you made in the previous year. Those days are long gone. Now, income can fluctuate month to month so YouTubers need to diversify where your income is coming in from. For Scott, that means not being reliant on Adsense income but looking at many other monetization opportunities including brand deals, product sales, affiliate links, lead generation etc. He advises any other creator looking to earn a passive income (or a more substantial income) to do the same.

Think of a product that you can sell and sell it from the beginning. Try and talk to brands early. Most companies now understand the power of influence on marketing, and so they're willing to deal with micro influencers, whether it be with product sales or with affiliate type of program or with just product trade for video time. Most brands now realize that's the power of YouTube and social video.

If you sell a product or service obviously your YouTube Channel is a great vehicle for sales or lead generation. Or, if there is a way to create a physical product around your channel (like an ebook) then that’s an opportunity for you to monetize too. Alternatively, you can leverage your subscriber base via affiliate marketing - essentially making money from that by linking out to something like an Amazon website or the company site that sells a product or service you promote. Every time somebody clicks on that link and buys something, you'll get a small commission. Scott does this and generates passive income across his YouTube Channels. As long as the creator discloses that affiliate links are being used via their terms and conditions, and in their ‘About’ section, an affiliate is a good way for pretty much every single niche Scott can think of.

*(Note: If you love vidIQ then consider becoming an affiliate - check out the 

#3 Understand Your Audience Purchase Power

Even more important than understanding your audience purchase power is to develop your audience purchase power. Just because you have a certain number of YouTube subscribers, doesn’t mean they will follow your lead and click through on those affiliate links. But if you are successful at promoting a product or service you can track activity on those affiliate links, and establish your purchasing power and your authority. That’s the kind of data you can then use to entice a brand as part of a deal. You can confirm you have an average of so many clicks and so many purchases made of the products you have promoted on your channel, and how much you will charge a brand based off that.

The best way to build purchase power is by promoting things that you are 100% passionate about. If you just take every crazy brand deal that comes your way then your purchasing power is going to be minuscule because people don't want the junk that you're pushing on them. But if you're promoting XYZ camera that has been amazing and these are the 15 reasons that I love it, then you're going to have more people who are going to want to purchase that camera based off of your testimonial or your review. Understanding and developing purchase power is massive.

YouTube is a marathon, not a sprint. Creators have to be prepared to be in it for the long haul, if they want to be massively successful. You can’t just throw one video up and then ask "Why aren't people watching?" because the YouTube algorithm doesn't work that way. You have to put in the leg work and you've got to do all of the right optimization things on the backend, like creating an awesome custom thumbnail and optimizing your keywords. It may be a few weeks before you start to pick up any traffic from the algorithm.

Creating just a few videos thinking you are going to become YouTube famous is not the case any more (unless you're bringing a massive audience over from Instagram, or Snapchat or TikTok). You've got to put in the time. There's no instant success anymore. Those very, very, very, very few channels that will blow up massively, they either making amazing content that nobody's ever seen before or they've got access to something nobody else has.

#5 Become an Important Part of Your Online Community

The fifth principle is about the importance of actually being part of a community, something Scott didn’t appreciate at the beginning of his creator journey. But as soon as he started to take it seriously he started to meet others in the family blogging community and build relationships with them, including collabs. He started to pick up tips about content creation and other aspects of being a vlogger. When you surround yourself with people that are doing the exact same thing that you are doing, you cut learning curves down because you learn from everybody else's mistakes and everybody else's wisdom at the same time. You get this masterclass just by hanging out with people that you are in the same boat with. And that's why it's super important to be part of your community, and attend video marketing and other similar events.

Also, jump onto online communities, like the thousands of YouTube groups there are on Facebook. There are things that are happening all the time where you can kind of build a little communities, sub-communities of creators. There are so many different ways that you can put yourself out there at different levels and get back what you're looking for.

vidIQ would like to say a HUGE thanks to Scott Simson for his time and his invaluable wisdom. Please subscribe to his 

. This has been TubeTalk episode 156 - tune in next week for the next for more help and advice for all things YouTube.

TubeTalk has been informing video creators amd marketers since 2014, and is one of the most respected and listened to podcasts in the online video industry. Subscribe today so you never miss an episode! You can find vidIQ's TubeTalk at:

If you want to take your YouTube channel to the next level then make sure to download vidIQ. It will help you research YouTube, analyze videos, audit your own channel, and take actionable steps 

Finding huge success on YouTube is absolutely possible. Follow these five principles to unlock new achievements and help monetize your content.

The Five Principles of New YouTube Success: TubeTalk Episode 156

We all seem to have a love-hate relationship with YouTube. We produce a video, and it does well, we love it. We produce a video, and it does poorly, then all of a sudden we blame YouTube and its algorithm. But is their algorithm really at fault here? Or perhaps it's our content? This week's episode of TubeTalk, the YouTubers podcast, will fundamentally change the way that you upload content to your YouTube channel.

Joining us today is Matt Gielen, who is a YouTube strategist, and a consultant to Netflix, Nickelodeon, MTV, and Comedy Central. You might have heard of some of these names. Matt is actually a code cracker, not in a hacker kind of way, but unpacking the YouTube algorithm seems to be his specialty.

Why YouTube chooses to surface your video to non-subscribers

Why your Click Through Rate is so important

How user Watch Time history plays a huge role in the content they are served

How to pivot successfully so your new content works on YouTube

Do you want a heads-up on cracking the YouTube algorithm going into 2020? This week's TubeTalk guest Matt Gielen brings you all the latest unmissable insights.

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