This article will explain the best ways to earn money from YouTube in 2024.
(We won’t include the YouTube partner program because everyone already knows what that is)
I love YouTube and watch it all the time – admittedly too much!
I honestly feel sorry for most YouTube creators. I can see the majority of them have no clue how to monetize their channel, other than relying on ad revenue from the partner program.
If they do come up with another revenue stream, it might be for something like selling hats or t-shirts. Unsurprisingly, most of the time the sales of their “merch” will be underwhelming at best.
By underwhelming, I mean they are lucky if they can profit 15 bucks a month.
I believe in the 80/20 rule, where 80% of your results will come from 20% of your effort.
Therefore, even though there are probably “73 ways to make money from YouTube”, I won’t waste your time with that kind of list.
Remember, this article is about the best ways for earning money on YouTube, not the “most ways we can possibly think of”
Let’s focus on how to actually earn money from YouTube:
The best ways, in order of importance
#1 – Collect email addresses
The first thing you absolutely need to do is collect email addresses from as many of your viewers as possible.
Not collecting emails is the number one mistake that YouTubers make.
How many times have you heard, “don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe”.
It would be much better if you said, “click the link in the description to sign up for my awesome newsletter about [XYZ]”
I would much rather get 1 email address than 20 new subscribers.
YouTube changes their algorithm all the time. If someone subscribes to your channel, it doesn’t mean they will see your videos in their feed very often.
Also, collecting emails is the best way to potentially earn money from them over time. Once you have their email address, you can contact them anytime with products, services, courses, or anything you have.
Don’t worry if you have anything to sell them yet. Just collect the email addresses now.
Note: Don’t take advantage of them by spamming them with emails or you will be blocked.
Do I need a website to collect emails?
No! That is the great part. In the past you did, but in 2024, you don’t.
How do I collect emails?
There are many different email services.
My 2 favorites are Beehiiv and ConvertKit.
We use Beehiiv for the newsletters on this website.
Sign up here to see how we do it. Feel free to use some of our ideas as inspiration.
Also check out best feature to grow your email list and how to grow your email list
# 2 Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is the second thing you need to do. This is a total no-brainer.
Affiliate marketing basically means you get a special link that is unique to you. This “affiliate link” goes to a product or service that you recommend. If the person ends up buying the product, you earn a commission.
This is all incredibly easy and seamless. You don’t need any technical expertise either.
No matter what your YouTube Channel is about, there will be a ton of great products to promote. Unlike the ads that run alongside your videos, you can choose which products to recommend with affiliate marketing.
You don’t need to be “salesy” at all. You don’t need to do this in every video either. Just be aware of it and use it when appropriate.
You can recommend the products, or software, or anything, of just the stuff you personally use and love.
If you are honest, your audience will appreciate the recommendations.
You can put affiliate links in the description of your videos. Just make sure to mention that they are affiliate links.
We use affiliate links on this website, and most people don’t mind at all. Why would they? The point is to only recommend the best stuff you can find.
The other great thing is that you can use your affiliate link in your email marketing campaign from tip number 1.
Imagine you collect 1000 email addresses from your viewers. Then once a week you send out an email where you recommend a product that you are using and loving (and a product related to what your audience is interested in).
You will get a commission from anyone who clicks on that link and ends up buying.
Then you make more videos, and keep on building your email list. After another week or so, you send out another email to maybe 1050 people with an affiliate link to another great product.
You get the idea.
It is very possible to earn way more from this strategy than from the partner program.
And this won’t negatively affect your partner program earnings either!
# 3 Create a Private Group
Private groups are getting more popular. A lot of people are willing to pay to join a private group too.
Think about this:
A private group is much more controlled, so there isn’t endless spam. Also, they are paying a monthly membership fee to join a group of like-minded people who are also willing to pay.
The fact that this excludes a lot of people is very important.
(This sounds mean, but it is a reality, and it makes sense).
This is why people often pay $10 000 for a ticket to a seminar.
They do this for the purpose of networking with other people who also paid $10 000. You’d have to admit, this excludes a lot of people.
Anyone who pays $10 000 must at least be a serious person. There is a high chance of meeting someone there who can team up with you, start a business together, or help out.
This is also true with a paid private group. I’ve seen YouTubers who are earning over $10 000 per month from their private group. And they don’t even have that many subscribers.
If your private group costs $47 dollars per month, you’d need 213 paying members. That is not a lot of people.
Don’t worry if you wouldn’t personally join a private group. A lot of people do join private groups, and they are getting more popular all the time.
What is the best private group platform for YouTube Creators?
The best private community platform we’ve seen is Skool. It is exploding in popularity and people are loving it.
This is another benefit of starting to build your email list now. You can promote your private group to them through your email newsletter.
# 4 Create a Course
A lot of YouTube creators don’t understand this one. They already create their best content on YouTube for free.
So why would anyone pay money for a course?
Don’t think like that.
The fact is, millions of people buy online courses every year.
And a lot of them are expensive too. Some are over $10 000.
In the online course space, $297 is a fairly “cheap” price.
A lot of people want a step-by-step course, with no ads, and a clear focus. They are willing to pay for it to save time. They don’t want to scroll through all of your videos (or other videos). They want to learn something from start to finish, in the form of a well thought out course.
As a bonus, you can also give people access to your private group for one year for example.
Again, your email list will be invaluable when it comes to selling your course.
As I said before, there are a zillion ways to earn money on YouTube to diversify your income. It doesn’t mean all of them are good ones.
You could:
- Sell hats
- Sell T-shirts
- Sell coffee mugs
- Sell stickers
- …….
You get the idea.
Let’s focus on the 80/20 rule and do what will give you the most bang for your buck.
At least set up your email marketing campaign today.
Check out Beehiiv and Convert Kit. See what is right for you.
Also, sign up for our newsletter to stay on top of how to make more money online.
There are some other good ways to earn money that I didn’t mention in this article. I did that on purpose so you focus. I’ll mention these in other articles and in the newsletter later.
Do what needs to be done first!
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. We might earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s one way to support us and keep things running. We also only put affiliate links we believe in fyi.
