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How to Make Money on YouTube (No Uploading Necessary!)

Leron Amin 57 Comments

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how to make money on youtubeDid you know that you can make money on YouTube without ever uploading a video? YouTube allows it’s users access to a library of videos that fall under the Creative Commons license. This License allows you to use other people’s YouTube videos (and make money from them) as if they were your own.

You can make money on YouTube without ever uploading a video

In this step-by-step tutorial I am going to show you how to  re-publish other people’s YouTube videos, how to optimize them to get more traffic, and how to convert your video traffic into money.

There are 4 steps to this tutorial:

1. Choose a Target Keyword

In order to find videos that are going to get traffic and generate the most money from advertising, you first need to do some keyword research. Keyword research is the process of finding and selecting keywords/topics that people are searching for that aren’t too competitive.

Google Trends Snapshot
Use Google Trends to pickup on topics that are trending. A search for the term “gardening” reveals that searches for that topic hit their lowest point in December, and their highest point in early May. This data reveals that late winter/ early spring is the best time to focus on posting gardening related content.
snapshot from KW Finder
Perform a keyword search on KW Finder or SEM Rush to find a target keyword. Keywords with the highest search and CPC values have the potential to generate the highest financial return, but are usually the most difficult to rank for (as shown under the DIFF tab). From this example, I chose “Vegetable garden planner” as my keyword because it’s a  long tail keyword with a relatively high search volume and a medium difficulty, and therefore YouTube competition for the video is likely to be low.
snapshot of tube buddy's tag explorer
The final step is to cross-check your keyword with the TubeBuddy tag explorer to get an idea of how difficult it will be for your video to rank high on YouTube for your given keyword. A score of over 70 is usually a good indicator.

After following these three steps, I was able to determine that “Vegetable garden planner” is a good keyword to target for my YouTube video.  In the next step I am going to show you how to find and republish a YouTube video that relates to your chosen keyword.

2. Re-Publish YouTube videos

In this section you will learn how to re-publish Creative Commons-licensed YouTube videos that relate to your keyword, optimize them to get lots of traffic, and then re-publishing them as your own.

visit youtube.com
Go to www.youtube.com
Click on the creator studio tab
At the upper right-hand corner of the screen, click on your user icon, then Creator Studio.
Click on the video editor link in the left-hand column
Once inside Creator Studio, click on the Video Editor link in the left-hand column.
Click on the Creative Commons Tab
Click on the CC (Creative Commons) tab inside of the video editor.
Add a youtube video to your library
Select a video from the library, then click the + icon to add the video to your account.
change the video title
Change the video title.
click create video to publish the video
Click the Create Video button to publish the video.

3. Optimize video for traffic

In this section you will learn how to use clickbait and captions to optimize your videos in order to increase your total views.

Use Clickbait

In case you haven’t heard, clickbait “describes web content that is aimed at generating online advertising earnings, especially at the expense of quality or accuracy”. If used responsibly, it can be a legitimate marketing strategy.  Clickbait is used frequently by large media companies such as BuzzFeed and UpWorthy to increase website traffic.

Although using clickbait is frowned upon, it’s use is so widespread simply because clickbait is an effective way to increase traffic.  If you don’t have the Photoshop skills to make effective clickbait, at least design an attractive thumbnail for your video.

example of a youtube clickbait video
Example of a YouTube clickbait video. 1-Video title promises to reveal “breakthrough” content. 2-Claim made by the video title is supported through the use of an “unbelievable” image.

The key to using clickbait successfully is to capture your audience’s attention with a “shocking” video thumbnail and video title. However, you must also a deliver a quality video in order to ensure that your user engagement rate and video ratings remain high.

Add Captions

Adding captions is one of the easiest ways to boost your video traffic because captions are indexed by YouTube, meaning a huge opportunity to increases your video’s keyword diversity and density.

Keyword diversity and density are two factors which influence the order in which your video appears in YouTube video search results.

Also keep in mind that YouTube’s automatic (CC) captions do not get indexed, which is why it is important to add your own.

YouTube CC added value statistics showing the YouTube keywords that were indexed as a result of adding captions to my YouTube videos
Adding captions to my YouTube video added an additional 1,046 words and 393 indexable search terms. Best of all, my target keyword density increased by 68 terms (Green), and my keyword diversity increased by 12 terms (orange).

The second reason why you should add captions to your videos is because adding captions increases user engagement rates, which affects your video SEO.  For an explanation why, view the full article.

YouTube CC affects video engagement ratio
Engagement ratio is a key ranking component for YouTube videos.

The third reason why you should add captions to your videos is because “by increasing your total video views, you are also increasing your total earnings”.

Consider for a moment a YouTube video with over 10,000,000 views. If the publisher is taking full advantage of AdSense, then a video with 10,000,000 views should be capable of easily generating over $5,000 in earnings.

A YouTube video with around 8 million views with estimated AdSense revenues of around $12,171.29
A YouTube video with around 8 million views showing estimated AdSense earnings of around $12,171.29.  Based on the example above, adding captions could lead to a 7.32% increase in views, which translates into an estimated increase in earnings of $890.93, from $12.171.29 to $13,062.22.  Keep in mind this is only a rough estimate because there are many factors besides total views that influence a video’s total earnings.

4. Monetize video traffic

Before you can start to make money from your YouTube videos, you need to enable monetization and set up a Google AdSense account.

visit youtube.com
Go to www.youtube.com.
Click on the creator studio tab
At the upper right-hand corner of the screen, click on your user icon, then Creator Studio.
Once inside Creator Studio, click on the Video Editor link in the left-hand column
Once inside Creator Studio, click on the Status and features link in the left-hand column.
In the body of the page, click the enable monetization button.
In the body of the page, click the Enable button in the monetization box.

After you’ve completed step 4, YouTube will ask you to agree to their terms and conditions and you will be asked to submit additional information in order to create a Google AdSense account.

Note that your application for monetization can take a few days to get approved.

Conclusion

The key to being successful on YouTube is creating quality content consistently.  Not all of your videos are going to be wildly successful, but the more often you post, the more growth you can expect from your channel.

Watch the growth of your channel in the form of a chart at YouTube Anayltics. Use the charts as a motivator if you ever feel like giving up.

One last thing to mention is that if you want to have lasting success on YouTube, you should consider publishing your own videos in which you connect with your audience ‘face-to-face’.

It is no coincidence that the most successful YouTube channels belong to individuals who use their own quirky/unique personalities as their most valuable brand asset. So start broadcasting yourself!

That’s it!

Thanks for following along with this tutorial! If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below!

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Comments

  1. Kenneth says

    Hi Leron, thanks for the tutorial. You talked about adding captions to the video, is it saying as adding tags ?

    If not where can one find the caption icon after uploading the video.
    how can I add it to a video after uploading before publishing.

    Reply

    • Leron Amin says

      Hi Jon,

      It’s not possible to make money on YouTube without doing any work. It’s still up to you to create quality content, which in itself takes time.

      Let me know if you have questions,
      Joe

  4. neza pu cool says

    hello brother ,I am searching someone who can create me a youtube channel include all characteristics said above ,please help me

    Reply

    • Leron Amin says

      Hi Neza,

      I’m not sure of any contacts who can create the channel for you. The tutorial is intended for users who wish to set up the channel themselves.

      Let me know if you have other questions,
      Joe

  6. Michelle says

    Hi Leron

    This is a very insightful tutorial with lots of great tips. Can you tell me where to find the videos tab as I can’t seem to see it.. Do you know where it can be found on the new youtube eitor ? Do you have an updated version of this tutorial as I would LOVE to see it ? I was just starting to go through each section while having my channel open, so I could do it step for step…
    Thank you
    Michelle

    Reply

    • Leron Amin says

      Hi Michelle,

      Thanks for the feedback! I hope to have an updated version of this tutorial in the near future!

      Let me know if you have questions,
      Joe

  7. Useful Info says

    Great tips and I learn it from top to bottom, but although the screenshots are old and now Youtube has shifted towards the Youtube studio, I could able to understand what you are saying and it is all practical, thanks for the great tips.

    Reply

  8. Nessa says

    Hi. How do I know which creative common videos are real? Some people download any type of video then re-upload and use the creative commons license which then gives a copyright claim from the original owner. Isn’t creative commons pretty risky? If not, where can I find real CC videos without getting a copyright strike?

    Reply

    • Leron Amin says

      Hi Nessa,

      Yes – it’s important to do your research to ensure there aren’t any existing copyright claims on the Creative Commons material.

      I don’t know of any source that validates third-party Creative Commons material, aside from maybe Wikipedia.

      Hope this helps and let me know if you have questions,
      Joe

    • Denise says

      any SSA how do I get to him to leave a comment I’m leaving it to you because I saw you left a comment to him and how do you get all all that stuff do you like I don’t understand I sorry I know about credit comments and stuff like that but how do I get the information from what we both just saw that make sense

  9. SeenZone says

    Hi.

    Sounds good but the tutorial on how to go to the CC looks like it doesn’t work anymore. Under “Create”, the “Video Editor” is no longer there and all the UI changes if you switch to Studio Beta. The video editor will appear probably if there’s an uploaded video in the channel, not empty.

    Reply

  10. John says

    This article is awesome. But I want to know if I can use creative common videos in my channel for monetization. Youtube and adsense has made lot of updates and maybe this method does not work. Does it works ? What is the process of posting tik tok videos ( that I do not own ) in our channel ?
    Waiting for your response

    John

    Reply

    • Leron Amin says

      Hi John,

      You can monetize creative-commons content if the license agreement grants you the right to use it commercially. Check out this article for additional information.

      You will have to get permission from the video’s copyright holder before uploading and monetizing the video, otherwise you may run into legal issues.

      Hope this answers your question,
      Joe

    • K says

      If the license says you can basically do whatever you want with it even commercially, why would you need to ask their permission? The license gives you that permission doesn’t it?

    • Leron Amin says

      Hi K,

      You’re correct that you wouldn’t need to get permission from the author if the license allows you to use the content commercially.

      Let me know if you have any questions,
      Joe

    • funmilola ayoola says

      If I upload 10 people tiktok video and monetize it, do I need to get permission from them or it doesn’t matter

  11. Minhtrung Nguyen says

    Thanks for your article, I really like it. This method does not work in Vietnam, because I can’t find the video editor.

    Reply

    • Leron Amin says

      Hi Martin,

      You won’t have to worry if the content was copyrighted after you had already used it in your videos.

      Let me know if you have any questions,
      Joe

  15. Rejwana Shabnam says

    Very much informative tutorial. Although as a newbie I am just researching about it I understand better from your tutorial.

    Reply

  16. Esau Muramye says

    I think I have plenty of questions to ask though let me start off with thanking you..we all appreciate
    so if I use a video with a copyright n I get more views, I don’t get my earnings?!

    Reply

    • Leron Amin says

      Hi Esau,

      Thanks for the feedback!

      You can’t use copyright videos as part of your videos. Doing so could get you into trouble with YouTube.

      Let me know if you have questions,
      Joe

  18. Kaushal Singh says

    Hi great informative article. I have a youtube channel with fully original content it was monetized earlier but not getting revenue due to new rules. I want to have one more channel for that i will be using cc videos. It will be different to my earlier channel. Should I launch new channel and gain subscribers and to meet new YT guidelines or upload video to my earlier channel. I also fear of suspension of channel however i will do a lot of editing and changing language also i will make use of many cc videos to make one of my own. Pls suggest.

    Reply

    • Leron Amin says

      Hi Kaushal,

      Many YouTubers have multiple channels – so I would recommend starting your new project on a separate channel.

      One thing that I want to emphasize is that you should use CC content creatively, such as by using it in compilations. Additionally, you can ask those who view your content to share their videos with you. A good example of this is the OE Fitness YouTube channel, which is just a whole library of workout fail videos – no original content whatsoever.

      Anyways, hope this information was helpful, and please let me know if you have any questions!

    • Leron Amin says

      Hi Prince,

      Creative Commons videos by themselves can’t be monetized – you’d first have to transform them into an ‘original’ piece of work, such as a compilation.

      Let me know if you have other questions,
      Joe

  19. Mitesh says

    Leron,

    Please write an Article on improving pagespeed and another one SEO. Some basic checklist for SEO.

    Your content is awesome as always.

    Thanks,
    Mitesh

    Reply

    • Leron Amin says

      Hi Mitesh,

      Thanks for the feedback!

      Those are great ideas for tutorials. I will look into doing a pagespeed and SEO tutorial in the future.

      Thanks,
      Joe

  20. Mary Pugalarasi says

    Hi dear, happy to get helped from you. I want earn money but I don’t have my own videos, matters… Can we really earn using others in you tube? Please help me…

    Reply

    • Leron Amin says

      Hi Mary,

      You can’t just re-publish any video – there are copyright laws, and you’ll be required to give attribution if you use other people’s content. According to Google, “You can monetize royalty-free or Creative Commons content if the license agreement grants you rights to use it commercially”.

      Hope this helps and let me know if you have any questions,
      Joe

  21. kay says

    Is there a point during this process that the system allows you to change/edit the thumbnail and text on the thumbnail and how is this done….-or- Do I need to download the video onto my computer from youtube- edit it, then reupload it to youtube….if so is there a free software that you can recommend??

    Reply

    • Leron Amin says

      Hi Kay,

      I’m not sure what is the fastest way to download the videos from YouTube – do a Google search for YouTube video converters – there’s lots of them out there. Let me know if you’re able to find one that is reliable and virus free. For video editing, I use and recommend HitFilm (free version)- there are tons of YouTube tutorials available on how to use this software.

      Either way, the best way is to download the clips first, edit them, and then re-publish them. Think of videos such as “Top 10 biggest fails”, for example – these are just compilations of YouTube video clips that had previously been uploaded, and have since been re-uploaded as compilations. These types of videos generate huge amounts of traffic and AdSense revenue.

      Let me know if you have any questions,
      Joe

  22. Rajaraman K says

    At present the “video editor” as mentioned in Step. 4 above is not at all visible under “create”. What shall I do?

    Reply

    • Leron Amin says

      Hi Jennifer,
      Thanks for commenting. I was under the impression that you could download and re-upload CC videos and monetize them with AdSense.
      What recommendations do you have for monetizing with affiliate offers?
      -Joe

  25. Toby says

    Hi Leron, just a heads up to say thank you for such an informative and interesting article. I’m inspired and confident now to get started.

    Reply

    • Leron Amin says

      Hi Toby,

      Thanks so much for taking the time to post a comment!
      I am glad that you found the article helpful. Feel free to let me know if you have suggestions for future tutorials.

      -Joe

    • Leron Amin says

      Hi Sunil,

      Visit this YouTube support thread for instructions on how to link an AdSense account to your YouTube Channel. After you follow the link, scroll down to the section titled, “Create a new AdSense account”. Let me know if you have additional questions.

    • Judith Robertson says

      Great information, but do you have to pay to signup for a Google AdSense account? Can you still make money on Youtube without starting off with a Google AdSense account? Since I am a beginner and on a tight budget I don’t have the extra money to signup for AdSense at this time. What do you suggest? Thanks

    • Joe says

      Hi Judith,

      Thanks for commenting.

      The Google AdSense accounts are free. As far as I know, the only thing you have to do when signing up for AdSense is agree to some terms and conditions.

      Let me know if you have any additional questions, as I would be happy to help!

      -Joe

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