Last Updated on July 24, 2023 by Vishnu Nambiar
We all love YouTube. It is a great place to find videos, view them and share them! Majority of us tend to use YouTube for recreational purposes only! But, the reality is that this site can be used to make money! Yes, there are folks out there who are raking in cash using YouTube! In this article, I have listed some awesome methods that will especially help the student community to make money out of this site!
Ways for students to make money using YouTube-
Well, before getting started, let me warn you that earning money using these methods won’t be too easy! It takes smart-work and dedication to rake in decent amount of money!
#1 Become YouTube’s Partner-
This method provides an amazing opportunity for YouTubers to make money using the videos that they upload on the site! The mode of monetization are different like- Display ads, Paid Subscription and Direct selling of merchandise.
Basically, under this scheme, YouTube will treat you as their business partner! You will be paid revenue for each click or view that an ad placed along with your video will get!
So, how can students expect to make money using this program? Well, you may upload quality study material related videos, tutorials, book review, College/University review etc on your YouTube channel!
If the stuff is in demand and your work is of good quality, it sure will garner much views and up votes. You may choose ‘Display ads’ as the preferred mode of monetization.
YouTube will place ads of different formats on different locations while a viewer checks out your video. You may find details about the formats of ads here. For each view/click that the ad gets, you will be paid money!
Another mode of monetizing your YouTube channel is through paid subscription method. If you keep uploading helpful tutorials and study material, and make your service premium, folks won’t mind paying a small subscription fee (monthly or annual) to view the videos in your channel. But, to make use of this method, you must make sure that your videos are really helpful and of top quality!
I don’t think direct selling of merchandise is a good plan, in case of students. Still, you may use YouTube to market the printed version of your Tutorials and study material. You may also take up Affiliate marketing and market books of other publishers too! You must make sure that you provide something extra in the printed version that’ll make viewers want to buy them!
To become YouTube’s partner, your YouTube Channel must satisfy some terms and conditions. The program is not launched for residents of all countries. Please do check out this article to know more about the Terms and Conditions as well as eligibility criteria to become YouTube partner.
#2 Using AdSense ads on YouTube-
In the previous entry, we saw how the YouTube Partner program comes loaded with ‘Location restrictions’. If you are ineligible to apply for the partners program, thanks to your location, you may use AdSense ads to make money using your YouTube Channel!
If you don’t have an AdSense account, you may create one for your YouTube Channel. Just access the ‘Monetization’ page under the Channel settings. There, you’ll find an AdSense Association page. Click on ‘next’ button and you’ll be taken to AdSense program’s page!
There, you have to provide details such as your Google Account and its password, contact information etc. After filling up the required information, submit the application. AdSense will notify you when your application gets approved by them after reviewing your channel.
In case you already have an approved AdSense account, you just need to associate that account to your YouTube Channel. For that, follow the above mentioned procedure. To check out this mode of monetization in detail, please visit this thread provided by Google.
Once your AdSense account is set up and associated with your YouTube Channel successfully, ads will be displayed while your videos are being viewed. For each view/click that an ad unit gets, you will get paid money.
#3 Direct Brand mentions and advertising-
You’ll get to use this method only when your Channel becomes popular and an authoritative one in its niche! Suppose you are publishing Mathematics tutorials on your channel and in that process have built a good audience, then schools/colleges/publishing houses etc may want to advertise their products/services through your channel!
For the advertiser, your channel is a perfect venue, because they will be getting targeted audience over there! You may publish ‘paid review’ videos, ‘brand mentions’ in your video etc, as per the demands of the advertiser.
Again, your channel must have good authority, viewership and subscriber strength for advertisers to be interested in direct advertising in one form or the other!
#4 Combining YouTube and PPD program-
PPD stands for Pay Per Download. Let me describe about it in simple words- basically, you register on a PPD service’s site (for example- Cleanfiles.net) and upload a useful file over there. You’ll be provided with a download link to that file. Now, you need to promote that link, so that people may download the file from that link. To download it, a user has to complete a survey/task, set by the PPD service. If a user finishes that task/survey and downloads the file, you’ll be paid money!
So, how to merge YouTube and PPD program, you might ask. Simple- make sure that you upload a useful and valuable file to the PPD network (like- Tutorial set, study material etc) that students will search for and download at any cost. And use YouTube to promote that download link provided by the PPD service!
Suppose you uploaded answer sets of Engineering Mathematics problem set on the PPD service, create YouTube videos on the same topic and make them rank well. Also, make sure to mention the PPD download link within the video so that viewers notice it and visit the link.
In this way, the more views the video gets, the link will also be promoted! Now, if the file uploaded is truly a valuable one, students will download it even after filling up the survey/finishing task. And for each successful download, you’ll get money from the PPD network!
Also read: Best websites to make money online
Paid survey websites to make money online
These are the four top methods tailor made for students, to help them make money using YouTube. Again, these methods won’t work like magic and help you generate cash quickly. It’ll take some time and loads of hard work to earn decent sum of money using these methods. In the article, I just mentioned videos related to tutorials/study material etc. But you may go for other niches also, like- game review, gadget review, lecture videos etc. Create a Channel that focuses on your passion and area of interest. That’ll make things really easy and help you make an awesome YouTube Channel!
I am Vishnu Nambiar a career and educational blogger from India. I am also a full time educational consultant having more than 12 years of experience in the educational sector.
I share articles related to courses, colleges, careers, exam tips and more here.