If you're making videos on YouTube, let's make sure you're actually making money from it. That's right, you can make money on YouTube just for making videos. In fact, in 2019, YouTube paid me $2500 just for creating content.

Making money on YouTube isn't going to cover all of your monthly expenses but it's sure nice to have that extra income coming in for your business. So in this video, I'm sharing what you need to do to get your channel set up to make money!

Before we get started, you need to know that you can't just start making videos and expect to make money from day one. YouTube has a few requirements in place to make it happen. You have to reach 2 specific milestones.

You have to have at least 1000 subscribers.
You must have accumulated 4000 hours of watch time within 365 days.

That can feel daunting but trust me. You've got this. And we're going to break down how you can get there asap.

Be Proactive.

Maybe you've just started your channel or maybe you haven't met those YouTube requirements. No big deal! You can be proactive by preparing your channel for monetization.

By getting your channel ready, you'll be able to get paid much quicker. What you're going to do is going into your channel settings and enable monetization. This is a simple step that you can complete now.

Set Up an AdSense Account.

Again, this is something that can be set up without meeting the YouTube monetization requirements! Once you enable monetization, you'll be walked through the AdSense set up process. This process is pretty straight forward and easy to get through.

You'll be required to provide a mailing address, an email address and as always, you'll have to verify that you are not a robot. You're not, are you?

During this process, you'll also be allowed to sync your bank account. This is how you'll get paid and again, this is a simple process. You'll provide the required information and Google will deposit a few cents into your bank account. You then verify the details of that deposit and you'll be ready to go!

Let me give you a little pro tip now.

YouTube monetization isn't going to cover ALL of your expenses month to month. This is why it's important to have a business model outside of YouTube. Click here to learn about 10 digital products you can sell today!

Get Consistent.

In order to start getting those subscribers and the watch time, you have to start putting content up. And not just one video! You have to be consistently putting content up for YouTube to show and for your viewers to tune into.

I recommend 1 video per week for business owners. Why? Because they already have a stream of income that isn't YouTube. But if you're wanting to get monetized asap, you can absolutely post more. 2-3 videos a week can really help speed the process up for YouTubers!

Create Longer Videos.

If you look at your audience retention graphs, you'll see that a lot of people will stop watching a video before it's actually over. This is important to remember because every minute that they watch counts towards your watch time. So if you have a 5 minute video and they leave halfway through, you've only gained 2.5 minutes towards your goal.

However, if that video is 10 minutes and they leave halfway, you've got 5 minutes going for you! Creating longer content allows for more watch time.

The important thing to remember here is that you don't want to fill your video with fluff. Pack it with value to keep them watching!

Ask for Subscribers.

Guess what? Viewers aren't mind readers. And they can get stuck in the infinite YouTube scroll. So be sure to have a strong call to action. Want to reach 1000 subscribers? Make sure that every person that watches your video knows you want them to subscribe.

Ask your viewers to subscribe and tell them why they should!

Be Bingeworthy.

How many times have you gotten stuck in a Netflix binge? There's a reason why TV producers love this. It creates watch time! The same thing goes for YouTube. You want to keep your audience watching video after video. This binging creates more watch time and will help you get to your goal much faster.

Look at Your Analytics.

Don't get scared here. This is important and not scary at all! Analytics tell a story. They tell the story of what viewers are watching on your channel. They tell you why they're on your channel. And these are important for you to know when you're working to monetize your YouTube channel!

Figure out what keywords are driving people to you and what content you can create around that! Another step you can take is digging into audience retention graphs. This will show you what causes your audience to drop off or what they like.

Create End Screens.

Want to make sure your videos are being binged? Tell your audience where to go next! But be intentional about it. Think about what your audience would naturally want to watch next and at the end of your video, tell your audience to check it out!

But here's the best part! You don't have to just tell them to go there. You can actually link that video DIRECTLY on top of your video as an overlay AND it's clickable! How's that for making it easier for your viewer?

Create Playlists.

Along that same vein, you can create playlists for your audience to binge! Can you see a theme here? It's all about the binge! Create a playlist of videos that all flow together so that your audience will watch through them.

Not only does this help your viewers go from video to video, but YouTube shows playlists in recommended lists. Which is an amazing thing!

So what do you think? Are you ready to monetize your channel? Click here to check out how you can get your first 1000 subscribers and get halfway through your requirements!