No internet user in this modern era is not aware of YouTube. This is because most videos which are viewed on the internet originate from YouTube. By February 2017, over 400 hours of content is uploaded each minute to YouTube with a billion hours watched everyday making the website the world’s second most popular site as of April 2017 according to Alexa Internet which is a company specialized in website traffic analysis. In November 2006, the website was bought by Google from Steve Chen, Jawed Karim and Chan Hurley – the creators of YouTube for US$1.65 billion and today, YouTube is operating as a subsidiary of Google. Its headquarter is in San Bruni, California.
MAKING MONEY ONLINE VIA YOUTUBE
Starting a YouTube career and earn is relatively easy but it requires a lot of work and time.
First, you have to setup a YouTube channel so that you can apply to the YouTube Partner Program. However, for your application to be reviewed, your channel will need to hit 10,000 views. Once that is done, the next step is to merge your channel with an Google AdSense account so that you can begin earning money on your videos. You can then monetize your videos and select what kind of videos and ad formats you want from the Creator Studio App and the in-video manager. Once monetization is done, YouTube will connect you to advertisers who will pay you to advertise their products. Payment is made according to how many viewers watch an ad. Finally, the last and most important step is to make sure you have a steady supply of videos that captivate your community.
Other means of making money on YouTube include merchandising, crowdfunding which involves the use of your community to contribute money for a project, working with brands and ad agencies as they always seek ways to promote their products and services especially if the target audience for the product is similar to that of the channel and creation of live events in places with a vibrant and engaged as it gives you an opportunity to sell merch or tickets.
HOW TO MAKE YOUTUBE VIDEOS THAT CAN GET LOTS OF VIEWS
First, the most simple and freest way to create and edit a YouTube video, which is the Video Editor built-in to YouTube. It allows users to create videos from scratch, as well as edits already uploaded videos. It also includes the ability to add music, photos, transitions and titles. Another free software exclusively for Windows users is the Windows Movie Maker. This free software which comes with the Windows OS is pretty easy to use and is good for making semi-pro videos. Its advantage is it is free and easy to use but it can only do a couple of things.
For Mac OS users, the alternative is the IMovie. Now, IMovie on the other hand is free but it is great. It has a wide array of features which users can choose from. You can put in title, transitions and effects, upload directly from the software to YouTube and lots of other free stuff. LightWorks is another free professional video editing software which gives users resolutions of up of up to 4,000. It is non-linear and works well with both SD and HD video formats. If you wish to edit a movie, this is the software to use.
Some other relatively cheap software includes Pinnacle Studio and Camtasia which provide a free trial but to access all features, the full software must be purchased.
POPULAR CHANNELS THAT USE THE ABOVE TACTICS
Some popular YouTube channels that use the above software include Video Creators by Derral Eves, CreatedbyBrett, Zoella, MissGlamorazzi, Our2ndlife aka O2L. However, most of the above websites also use a lot of other paid software to make their videos better. So,
HOW MUCH MONEY YOUTUBERS CAN EARN ANUALLY
The amount of money which a YouTuber can make in a single year depends in large part on the number of subscribers the channel has, the number of views it records for its videos and the frequency of uploading videos. Generally, the trend is the larger the number of subscribers and viewers, the more the income. Basically, 1,000 views on YouTube will get you about $1.50 to $ 2.00 of revenue. A YouTuber with a million views can earn somewhere between USD 500,000 to USD 1.2 million annually. YouTube star, Felix Kjellberg, owner of PewDiePie which is the YouTube channel with the highest number of subscribers (about 57 million as of August 2017) earned $7.4 million from his channel in 2014 and by then, his fan base wasn’t this huge. Of course, not all the money goes to him but still, if he can earn USD 4.5 million after deduction of charges, it is still pretty decent.
Michelle Phan, another YouTube star famous for her make up videos with a community of over 7 million subscribers made $150,000 after tax and charges and again, her fan base wasn’t what it is today.
So, with YouTube, the sky is the limit.
