Youtube is the second largest search engine and only growing.
This is a platform that can be monetized in many different ways and in this guide I’ll show you how to make money on Youtube with affiliate marketing.
This is a much better approach than trying to make money with ads and any person can do what I teach.
Your face doesn’t need to be in the videos and you don’t need to spend thousands on editing either.
Sound too good to be true? Read on and you’ll see it’s not.
How To Monetize With Affiliate Links
If you’re looking for a video on how to become an entertainer on Youtube like Pewdiepie or Jake Paul, this guide isn’t for you. This guide is more for money minded people who want to treat Youtube like a business and make money, not fans (although you’ll still be building an audience/fan base).
There’s a few different approaches for this but the two I’m going to focus on are:
- Doing product reviews and making “best of” videos – best smart watches 2019, best push lawn mowers 2019, best protein powders 2019. You link to the products in the description and get commissions when people click the links and make a purchase. Also, you won’t need to show your face in these kinds of videos but you’ll need a quality video editor.
- Creating information videos and offering a single affiliate offer. For instance, maybe you do a cooking channel and then offer a cookbook to your audience in each video. These videos you’ll probably want to have your face on screen for a little.
You’ll need to sign up for different affiliate programs depending on the method you do – there’s affiliate programs that are better for the first option and affiliate programs that are better for the second. I’ll go over this a little later on.
Before I get to that, you should understand the expenses and what you’ll need to buy to get your Youtube channel off the grown.
What Will You Need To Start
Before you start making money on Youtube you should have a good idea of what you’ll need to properly start.
If you have absolutely nothing but a laptop on the moment, you can get going for as little as $75 to around $500.
Here’s a few must haves for making videos:
- Laptop: You don’t need a $3000 laptop to edit videos or anything like that. In fact, when I first started I used a refurbished HP Elitebook that cost about $250. Keep in mind you need a laptop that can handle a video editing software, though. I bought a relatively new laptop for $600 and it kept crashing and freezing when I ran my editing program. I had to return it and go a little more expensive but now it works just fine. If you’re low on cash just buy a refurbished laptop like I did.
- Microphone: You can find nice microphones for pretty cheap but don’t go to cheap – audio quality is really, really important on Youtube. A good beginner microphone that won’t cost a lot ($39) is the Blue Snowball. This is a mic that even serious Youtubers love and is more than enough to satisfy a beginner. It’s the one I bought first too. If you have a little more to spend ($124) you can buy the Blue Yeti. This is a step up and is the mic that I own now.
- Screen Recorder Or Video Editing: You’ll need some sort of screen recorder and program to record audio. If you just want a screen recorder and nothing else you can get Screen-O-Matic for $15. This will allow you to make Powerpoint presentations and screen record them and record your audio narrative. Some videos will need more editing, though. If you enter some of the more competitive markets you’ll need to buy a more expensive video software editor like Camtasia (costs around $250). This program allows you to make professional looking videos like this one:
The video footage you see here wasn’t actually shot by the person who created this Youtube video. They downloaded stock footage or commercials showing the products, placed it into Camtasia, and added special effects and titles. With some practice and going through the tutorials Camtasia provides for you, you’ll be able to make videos like this.
- Camera (Optional): Some people want there face on video and if you’re doing something like makeup tutorials or anything like that, you’ll need a quality camera – better than the one on your laptop. Here’s a good list that goes over the different camera options at your disposal.
- Website (optional): Some affiliate programs require a website for you to sign up while others will allow you to sign up with just a Youtube channel. If you need a website you can sign up for WordPress for like $5 a month and you’ll need to buy a domain name which is about $12 a year.
That’s really all you need. At the bare minimum (if you have a laptop), you’ll need to buy a microphone ($39) and Screen-O-Matic ($15). If you can I would buy Camtasia or a more advanced video editing/screen recording program to make higher quality videos – this will likely cost $150 or more.
Different Niches And Affiliate Programs
Alright, earlier I recommended two methods for affiliate marketing on Youtube – the first is product reviews and ranking different products and the other is an informational channel that offers one or two affiliate offers.
If you decide to make videos based on the first option you should select a niche that’s pretty broad. The following niches will work:
- Sport/outdoors
- Home appliances
- Tech
- Fitness equipment
And other markets like that. I’d recommend even going completely general and just making various “best of” videos. The competition isn’t as stiff as it is in Google and you can get away with selecting broader keywords.
Here’s a few channels that are completely general and make a killing on Youtube:
- The Product Lab: This channel is entirely based on the “best of” model and has over 17,000,000 views altogether. You know what the most amazing part is? There’s only 118 videos on this channel. The creator knew what they were doing and selected good keywords but 118 isn’t that many videos. A hard worker could get that many videos done in half a year and a pretty lazy person could get that many videos up in a year.
- Top 5 Home & Lifestyle: Top 5 Home & Lifestyle is another channel where the creator clearly knew what they were doing and only focuses on “best of” videos. This channel only has 64 videos and still has over 5,000,000 views.
- 10BestOnes: Of the three channels mentioned so far, 10BestOnes is the most active and posts the most videos – they have over 400. This channel also has the most views overall and as of now has over 24,000,000. Just like the previous two channels, 10BestOnes only focuses on “best of’s.”
- Ezvid Wiki: This channel clearly believes in quantity over quality. Any person can make better videos than Ezvid – they’re literally garbage. They must have a large staff, though, because they put out 10+ videos a day and have over 16,000 best of videos on their channel. Overall they have a staggering 246,000,000 views too.
If you’re going to try and make a channel like the ones I mentioned up top, I would sign up for the Amazon Affiliate Program. You can practically find any product you want on Amazon and make as many “best of’s” as you want.
I wanted to test these types of videos out and made 5 in mid October. Here’s the results I got between November 1st to March 31st:
I had $200 in additional sales that brought me to over $1500. Not bad for just 5 videos!
Keep in mind you can target keywords that get way more clicks too.
The videos I created got around 75,000 views so far. If you look at the channels I posted up top they have videos that are close to a million views and plenty that are over 200,000.
So even if you don’t convert as high as the keywords I targeted, you can make up for it by getting more views.
You can also make videos where you review individual products as well. You will most likely need to own the product to make effective videos, though (if you’re an excellent video editor maybe you won’t have to).
Here’s an example of a product review channel:
This channel has over 94,000,000 views and has over 400,000 subscribers. This person is doing VERY well and can easily afford to purchase products to review.
My advice would be to start off with the “best of” videos and as you grow, start doing individual reviews.
The second option is making an informational channel around a single affiliate offer. For instance, you can make a fitness channel going over various exercises and make people aware of a fitness program that you’re an affiliate of. Link the program in the description and get paid when people purchase.
Another example would be have a channel where you teach people how to make videos online like Franklin Hatchett. Frank makes various videos around affiliate marketing and dropshipping. In the description he has different affiliate links to different website hosting companies and links to his own courses.
I know he makes nearly $10,000 a month with the hosting company affiliate link and makes probably another $10,000 a month linking to his own courses.
You can pretty much do any niche if you select this method but I would stick to only a few affiliate programs. Go to Clickbank or any other affiliate program where you can make 50% commissions on a product and pick one.
Start making videos around that topic, link the product in the description and start making commissions.
How You Get Traffic (Keyword Research And SEO)
If you’re familiar with SEO, you know the term “keyword research.” Keyword research is simply finding phrases that people search for and then creating content around that phrase – in this instance the content would be creating a Youtube video.
This is the next step after selecting a niche and is a pretty straight forward process but there’s a few things to keep in mind.
If you’re trying to make a sale right away on a video (like described in the first method as an Amazon affiliate), you need keywords that are late in the buying process.
Here’s the steps involved in the buying process:
- Someone notices a problems in their life and begin researching how to solve it
- Someone learns about a service or type of product that can help them and begins comparing/researching the services and products.
- Someone has selected the product they want and are ready to buy.
If you’re doing Amazon affiliate marketing, you’re going to come in at step 2 with your “best of videos” or review videos.
Say someone wants to know how to save time cleaning (step 1) and learns about robot vacuum cleaners. They proceed to step 2 (searching best robot vacuum cleaners into Youtube), and then they come across your video.
Let’s say you made this video:
This is the first option when you type in “best robot vacuums” into Youtube. If you actually watch this video on Youtube you’ll see Amazon affiliate links in the description.
If someone watches this video and is satisfied enough with your review, they will click your link and go perform step 3 at Amazon. That’s where you earn your commission.
In order to be the first search term for a keyword, though, you need to get your Youtube SEO correct. Watch the video below to learn more about ranking your Youtube videos at the top:
Youtube determines its video rankings with an algorithm and there’s certain things you need to do to please the algorithm. Here’s what Youtube thinks is most important (in no particular order):
- Keywords (best robot vacuums, how to loose belly fat, how to boil an egg)
- Tag your videos (make sure you save your video as your keyword and put in the correct tags when uploading – try 6 to 8).
- Length: Watch time is very important and some people think it’s the number one thing Youtube looks for. Make your videos lengthy and try to always have the longest video for each keyword. It’s better to have a high quality video that’s shorter and than a low quality video that’s longer, however.
- Click through rate (CTR): Youtube looks at which videos are most likely to be clicked on. You can boost your CTR by having catchy titles and more importantly having thumbnailsthat stick out.
- Social signals: Youtube likes a video that gets likes and comments too. Encourage your viewers to do just that – like it and comment below. You can prompt comments by asking a question at the end of the video.
- Long description: You want a description that’s longer than 100 words and that gives Youtube a better idea of what you’re video is about.
If you can combine the right keywords with quality content and getting the smaller things right, Youtube will do all the work for you. They’ll place it high in the search results, they’ll suggest your video in the side bar and you’ll get ranked in Google for your keyword too!
Google is shifting towards ranking videos more and more in their results. This means more traffic for you.
How To Make A Video
Making a video isn’t as hard as it seems. Yesterday I did a 45 minute review of Wealthy Affiliate and it took me a little over 2 hours. I basically just screen recorded what was on my laptop and described what the audience was seeing.
As long as you have a video editing software that’s pretty decent, you’ll be able to make pretty high quality videos without much effort.
If I’m being honest, the videos that take the longest to make are probably the “best of’s” just because it’s important to have a script and that takes some time to write. Also, you have to find pictures, snip them out, place them in, add effects, place titles in, etc.
If you’re showing people how to do a workout or how to cook something, you just have to record yourself and add a few things.
A 10 minute best of video may take me 6 or so hours to make and a review where I can just talk and screen record will only take me a couple of hours, even if it’s over 30 minutes.
Here’s a video that goes over how to use a very popular editing program called Camtasia:
It’s pretty easy to learn. I had zero editing skills or knowledge when I got into Youtube and my videos get around 90% likes Vs. only 10% dislikes. So if I can do it, you can do it.
Should You Write A Script?
I mentioned in the last section you’ll want to make a script if you’re doing a “Best of video.” I say this because it can be a little off-putting to hear words like “um” and not sounding smooth in these type of videos.
Remember, you most likely won’t own the products you’re talking about. People will be willing to overlook that (it’ll be pretty obvious when you’re not on camera holding the product) if you sound like you know what you’re talking about and have a smooth script.
I’ve made around 10 of these videos so far in my life and they usually get over 50,000 views. It wasn’t until a few months ago I got the idea of putting affiliate links right in the description (I was linking to my website before). This one video is making me over $350 a month now.
I didn’t own any of the products I talked about but I had a very good script. I made sure I sounded clear, I researched all the features, I read customer reviews and I have a good mic.
People trusted my opinion because I came off as trust worthy. It doesn’t seem like I’m just trying to make a sale – it seems like I’m genuinely trying to help someone find the best product for themselves, which is exactly what I’m doing.
You won’t need much of script if you’re on camera showing how to do something, though. In this instance it’s probably better to let your personality shine and that probably won’t happen reading off a script.
Eventually your on camera presence will improve and if you have knowledge about what you’re talking about you’ll attract an audience.
An example would be Franklin Hatchet. He does affiliate marketing, dropshipping and has a Youtube channel. He doesn’t read a script and that’s because he has a good personality and knows what he’s talking about.
Here’s a video from him:
Frank’s a pro and can easily talk about all these subjects off the top of his head.
Placing Affiliate Links In The Right Place
Like I said, I used to link to a website I had (where there were affiliate links) instead of just linking straight to Amazon.
Looking back I don’t know why I did that. I guess I was very proud of the work I did on my website and wanted people to read it.
But I added an unnecessary step that SEVERELY hurt my affiliate commissions.
As a rule of thumb, affiliate programs know how to close a sale. So your goal as an affiliate marketer is to get a customer to the offer as quickly as possible. Don’t add unnecessary steps like I did. Just get them to the product.
For instance, Amazon is worth hundreds of billions of dollars. They have the best marketing minds in the world setting up Amazon to sell at the highest rates possible.
Everything is on purpose. Where they put the “buy button,” the colors, the suggested products and more. If someone clicks to Amazon and don’t buy they usually get an email from them.
There’s one click buying, credit cards are stored in the system, there’s 2 days shipping and more.
Amazon can sell better than you and I. So don’t lose people by linking to a website that links to an offer.
The best spots (and really only) for affiliate links is in the description like below:
And then you want to put your links in a comment and pin it to the top. If you pin a comment in Youtube it will always be the first comment people see when they scroll down. Here’s an example:
In your video make sure to let your audience know early on that there’s links to each product too. I usually do this before I get into the products and after I’ve introduced myself.
Youtube Is The Future
This is something that I truly believe. It’s already the second biggest search engine and it’s only getting bigger. Think about the transition from newspaper to radio to television.
That’s what’s happening in the search world. It used to be you had to type in your search and read an entire article. Now you can just watch a video on Youtube.
You’re starting to see big internet marketers shifting to Youtube as well. Two of the most well known, Brian Dean and Neil Patel, are growing their Youtube channels everyday.
Google is indexing more videos in their search and have additional carousels (usually at the top of the first page) with a bunch of videos you can watch.
Youtube is less competitive in a lot of ways when compared to Google too. There’s keywords I can rank in Youtube that I would have zero chance of ranking in Google.
If you’re getting into affiliate marketing for the first time or want to make the transition I have only one thing to say to you – DO IT.
There’s a lot of options for you and a lot money to be made.