HOW DO YOUTUBER'S MAKE MONEY?

Photos by TenEighty

YouTube. 

Our channel turned 3 years old in January, we recently reached 100,000 subscribers and it is currently our job to create videos online, so I felt like it was time to give you a few Tips, Tricks and tell you some things you may not know. 

How do "vloggers" make money on YouTube?

This one varies depending on the creator, their content and their audience. So, I don't really think I can talk about YouTuber's as a whole but instead, I can tell you how we make money as sisters? 

There are a few ways we make money, we present for MTV, we make content for CBBC, we take part acting in commercials, we have adverts playing in front of our videos and occasionally our videos are sponsored by companies on our channel. To be honest about 30% of our money is made away from YouTube with us taking part in other forms of media (E.g MTV, CBBC & Tv Commercials), but we have still been given most of these opportunities because somebody has found our channel acting as a showreel and contacted us or invited us for an audition. The other 70% is where you'll notice us using the #ad on our social platforms and that's thanks to a company contacting us and paying us to discuss a competition they are hosting, or challenging us to do something exciting! 

Are all YouTubers rich?

No they are not. It's like any industry, the majority earn a reasonable wage that allows them to work full time creating content but doesn't allow them to splash out on a new car or enable them to buy a property. But then there is the minority that are very very well off, possibly have multiple properties and are financially very well off. I'd say Amelia and I are in the middle somewhere, we are very lucky to be earning enough money to work full time on our YouTube channel, but we also live rent free with our parents. So, I'd say we don't earn enough to feel comfortable to live on our own and don't feel that we regularly have enough money coming in to pay bills such as rent on our own either.

Why a joint YouTube channel?

Why not? There wasn't much planning behind this if I'm honest. One Christmas we got bored and just created a channel... Amelia and I spend a lot of time with each other so it just made sense. I don't even think there was ever a moment where we thought of creating one on our own. I also don't think I could do it now, I feel weird not having Amelia by my side when I film a video on my own - Though it would be nice not having to split the money after a sponsored job haha! 

How do you grow your channel?

1. Create topical videos. 
2. Comment on other YouTubers videos to let them and other people know your channel exists. 
3. Use twitter to promote your video e.g. It's valentines Day and you've done a video about it, tweet it out on Valentines Day with the Valentines hashtag so the world can see it and find your channel. 
4. Keep going, someone once told me it takes 2 years of regular uploads to grow a channel properly... and that's exactly when our channel started to take off - coincidence? Who knows. 
5. Light your videos, don't have lighting? Use window light, it's my favourite anyway. For a video to be recommended by YouTube to other people, viewers need to watch your video for a long time (Audience retention/watch time) and the one thing that puts me off a video is it being really badly lit. So if you don't have lighting make sure you have a window facing you! 

And I think that's enough talking about YouTube for now but I hope some of you found it interesting? If you have any more questions please pop them down below and make sure you're following us on our blog here! Oh and if you want to know more about Amelia and myself? Amelia did a blog post recently here answering more of your questions.

Speak soon! -G,x