Earning on YouTube – how to monetize even small traffic

You no longer need to convince anyone that monetizing video content on YouTube can be very profitable. Many of the youngest Internet users dream of a career as a YouTuber. And it’s hard to be surprised. We analyze how and how much you can earn on a YouTube channel.

Earning on YouTube – YouTube requirements

Earnings on YouTube depend on many factors, but the two basic ones are the number of subscribers and their level of engagement. The most popular way of earning among YouTubers is the YouTube Partner Program. However, meeting all the requirements of the YouTube Partner Program can be quite difficult for a beginner YouTuber. The amount of content that needs to be published in order to reach the required 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time requires a lot of work and, above all, time. Earning from AdSense within the YouTube Partner Program or directly through the AdSense network is also a matter of the reach achieved by the published videos.

Earning on YouTube – is it possible to monetize a small channel?

Earning money through affiliate programs is very simple. A YouTuber, i.e. an affiliate publisher, recommends selected products from partner programs in their videos. Then they place affiliate links to the recommended products in the video description. For each transaction completed by a user after clicking an affiliate link, the YouTuber receives a pre-defined commission on the sale.

Participating in affiliate programs gives every YouTuber a great deal of freedom—they decide what they recommend and why. They can openly encourage viewers to buy selected products, emphasizing that every purchase results in a commission for them. They can also recommend products very subtly, pointing out only their advantages, without directly urging viewers to buy.

You can find a list of available partner programs in the webePartners network HERE.

Earning on YouTube – affiliate links are the fastest way to monetize even small traffic

The internet is constantly changing, and the direction of these changes is set by its users. The enormous amount of information an average user has to process every day, along with the flood of “fake news,” has caused a decline in trust in large websites. Internet giants no longer have the strongest influence on users’ purchasing decisions and other actions. Today, the greatest trust is placed in niche thematic websites and influencers who are experts in their fields.

We have plenty of affiliate opportunities on YouTube, which is why YouTube monetization is also within reach for beginner and niche channels. Under YouTube videos, you can freely add clickable affiliate links that direct users to the products presented or reviewed in the video. These can be clothes, cosmetics, books, games, gadgets, sports equipment, decorative items, everyday-use products, and many others.

Thanks to affiliate links, viewers can go to the store’s website offering the products to purchase the selected product. Importantly, if the buyer purchases another product or multiple products in the store, the YouTuber will also be credited a commission on the entire order value.

In the YouTube video description, there are no limits on the number of affiliate links we can place there. Therefore, it’s worth using this and linking every product with an exact description. Additionally, it’s worth paying attention to the way products are described. A description will work much more effectively.

Monetization through affiliation – a trusted way of recommendations

Audiences on YouTube are increasingly accustomed to recommendations given to them by their favorite YouTubers. That is why, even without much encouragement, they search video descriptions to find links to products they are interested in. Let’s remember that thanks to this, they save their time and no longer have to search the internet on their own for a specific product. By quickly going to the product in the store, they immediately see its price, which is an additional convenience and speeds up the decision about a possible purchase.

Therefore, in affiliate cooperation there are no losers—everyone benefits:

Earning on YouTube – how to become a publisher

To become a virtual publisher, you do not need to incur any costs. Registration as a publisher in an affiliate network is free (it was and will be), as is access to all promotional tools and the full functionality of the affiliate platform.

Earning on YouTube – free access to affiliate programs and tools

Why doesn’t a publisher have to incur any costs to start earning from partner programs right away? Because what matters most to advertisers and the affiliate network is long-term cooperation with publishers. Burdening publishers with the costs of joining partner programs and using affiliate tools would result in most YouTubers not joining the cooperation at all. And the task of an affiliate network is, after all, to enable publishers to earn from recommendations and to positively influence the development of cooperation with advertisers. The affiliate network, just like the publisher, earns exclusively on a commission basis from sales. If the publisher does not earn, the affiliate network does not earn either.

Monetization of a YouTube channel – good practices

Affiliate marketing offers great possibilities for weaving sponsored content into purely content-based materials. It is also a great and low-invasive way to test your own community’s reaction to the fact that you are starting to earn money on a blog.

Monetization of a book channel

Zaksiążkowane is a YouTube channel run by two sisters: Tola and Zuzanna, who is 8 years older. Both love books very much, and on the channel they share their passion with others. They regularly talk about their favorite books and inspire others to read.

This is how they describe themselves:

We are sisters, head over heels in love with books, discovering new delicious pieces of literature. We run a YouTube channel together because we want to inspire, encourage reading, and thanks to the fact that there are two of us – we can reach both younger and older readers, but above all we are fulfilling our passion!
[source: MBP in Opole].

On YouTube, there is no limit to the number of affiliate links we can place in a video description. That’s why it’s worth using this and linking every product we recommend in the video. You can also, similarly to what Tola and Zuza from the “Zaksiążkowane” channel do, add one affiliate link to the store’s homepage. The girls talk about various books, which are very often available in the Tania Książka.pl bookstore. Anyone who clicks their affiliate link to the bookstore and purchases any book (or anything else) will make the girls receive a commission from the purchases.

Monetization of a beauty channel

Tryfonka Maluje is a channel run by Marzena Tryfon, who is a makeup artist. On her YouTube channel, she honestly talks about the products she tests and advises viewers on how to care for their skin and create beautiful makeup looks also at this slightly more mature age 🙂 She cares about building relationships with viewers, so that women believe in themselves, so that they believe that at any age you can look beautiful and feel wonderful with yourself.

Monetization of a tech channel

For several years, Robert Nawrowski has been running a channel related to new technologies. A large part of the channel is devoted to testing and thoroughly discussing the latest smartphones.

In almost every video description that is a product review, you will find many affiliate links. The user not only gets a comprehensive summary of the product from Robert, but also its price and a verified place online where the product can be purchased.

Robert always informs his viewers that the links may be affiliate and explains why:

Some of the links placed in the description may be so-called affiliate links, which means that they redirect to the page of a specific store (offer). Thanks to this, you have links with prices that are always up to date, and I receive a small commission for a sale from such a click. All links are placed in good faith with due diligence. If something doesn’t work as it should, I apologize and ask you to let me know.

Earning on YouTube – advantages of working with an affiliate network

An affiliate network enables publishers to cooperate with advertisers and brands, provides the necessary technical infrastructure, and takes care of long-term cooperation between the parties involved. Thanks to this, the publisher—i.e., the YouTuber—can focus on their content and doesn’t have to waste time or energy on formal matters related to cooperation. A large number of advertisers in one place and a huge selection of products you can earn on make an affiliate network a good solution at any stage of building your own channel. The affiliate network also provides publishers with a range of affiliate tools that make users more willing to click on ad creatives and use YouTubers’ recommendations.

• No formalities when cooperating with brands—registration in the network as a publisher is enough

• You act independently, on your own, and in line with your aesthetic

• You recommend only the products and services you want

• You have access to a huge database of advertisers, divided into product categories they offer

• You can choose the best products from a database of over 3 million products

• You use affiliate tools supporting sales free of charge

• Every day you have access to discounts and promo codes

• You can end the cooperation at any time without giving a reason

YouTube Monetization – the YouTube Partner Program

Alongside affiliate marketing, one of the most popular ways of earning money on YouTube among owners of larger channels is joining the YouTube Partner Program. The YouTube Partner Program gives creators access to a wider range of YouTube resources and features, and above all, it enables them to earn money from their channel. However, in order to join the YouTube program, you must go through a channel verification process and meet a number of requirements.

One of the most important and at the same time most difficult requirements is having at least 1,000 subscribers and achieving 4,000 hours of watch time on your videos on public pages. Reaching these thresholds is proof for YouTube that you have a sufficient amount of content, which determines whether the channel complies with all the guidelines of the YouTube Partner Program and whether it can be accepted into it.

If you meet the minimum reach and view count requirements for your videos, remember to create an AdSense account connected to your YouTube channel. This is necessary in order for earning money on YouTube to be possible.

YouTube Monetization – YouTube Partner Program Requirements

1. You must follow the YouTube Partner Program policies.
2. You must live in a country or region where the YouTube Partner Program is available.
3. You must have more than 4,000 hours of public watch time in the last 12 months.
4. You must have more than 1,000 subscribers.
5. You must have an AdSense account linked to your channel.

YouTube Monetization – Google AdSense Advertising

Google AdSense is Google’s advertising platform that displays contextual ads on websites in the form of text ads, banners, and video ads. The tool is available to everyone and is very easy to implement on a website. AdSense ads make it possible to earn money on YouTube without having to look for advertisers on your own, because the system provides them continuously. Google AdSense is, of course, not only a platform for YouTubers, but also for bloggers and other websites.

Like most advertising solutions, earning money with AdSense also has its drawbacks and limitations. First of all, AdSense ads are not displayed when AdBlock is enabled, and as is well known, almost every second internet user in Poland already uses AdBlock. This means that half of users will not see the ads placed by publishers via the AdSense system. The amount of earnings depends on the volume of traffic on the website, which is why niche-topic sites have no chance of earning high revenues through AdSense. Therefore, this is not a good way of earning money for small YouTube channels or niche websites and blogs that do not have large reach, but may boast a loyal and engaged community.