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Video tutorials are a great way to make money online! There is an endless number of topics that you can create video tutorials for, and people will always be searching for them.
How Do Tutorial Videos Make Money?
The five different ways to make money with video tutorials are through affiliate marketing, paid advertising on Youtube or other sites, services, digital products, sponsors.
Below is a brief description of each way:
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketers promote products from the company they represent to earn commissions for every sale generated by their referrals. You can find more affiliate programs than you can imagine through affiliate networks and brand programs.
This method offers plenty of flexibility in what you can promote as an affiliate marketer because it doesn’t require that you have your website or blog (although having one would certainly help).
You could create a YouTube channel and upload videos about any topic related to the type of products you want to sell without ever needing to worry about hosting videos on your own website.
Affiliate marketing income is made by referring your audience to a product or service through an approved affiliate link.
You can promote anything online as an affiliate marketer, but it’s vital that you only refer products from companies with which you would feel comfortable being associated.
It would help if you also were mindful of the image your referrals present to potential customers because this will influence how they view what you have to offer.
My name is Lori Ballen of BallenBlogger.com, and I earn 6-figures as an affiliate marketer. I make most of that income by creating tutorial videos for software. Software is a fantastic affiliate niche because it’s often recurring.
I’ve got a guide here where you can learn how to become an affiliate marketer.
Video Channel Sponsors
If you’re an experienced video creator, then you can easily create a channel for sponsored content.
Most Youtuber’s agree that there is more money to be made from sponsors than Google Adsense.
You don’t need many people watching your videos or followers to earn some serious dough as well — just one high-paying sponsorship can be enough!
Once you have sponsors, you can create more content that appeals to that niche. Sometimes the sponsors will approach you, and other times, you can pitch the sponsor.
For example, I was creating video tutorials about blogging and creating an e-mail list. I was approached by a software company that offered option forms for WordPress Websites.
They paid me to add their intro video to the front of the Youtube video. Sponsorship can, and is required to be, disclosed in your Youtube video settings.
Youtube Partner Program
The Youtube Partner Program allows you to be part of a revenue share program for Google Adsense Ads.
You can earn 55% of the ad earnings once your Youtube channel qualifies. You’ll need 1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of watch time within the past 12-months to apply.
In your Youtube analytics, you’ll be able to see what you are earning per 1000 views as a channel, as well as on each video.
When you see a video earning a higher RPM on a particular video, you can push more traffic to that video and create more content like it.
RPM means revenue per mille and tells you how much you earned per thousand views. To calculate your RPM, your estimated revenue is divided by your total views in the same period.
It’s important to note that RPM is calculated, including views that weren’t monetized as well.
I have 3 monetized Youtube Channels. If you don’t have an existing audience, 1-year is a good plan for building up the numbers to quality.
Services
When I first began creating tutorial videos, I was doing it only for real estate agents. My goal was to create awareness for my real estate team in Las Vegas to generate more referrals.
I knew that if I created great tutorial videos on everything I was doing to generate real estate, people would remember me as long as I kept branding myself as their Las Vegas real estate referral partner.
Today, I still have a Youtube channel where I create tutorial videos for real estate agents and monetize with ads, services, affiliate income, sponsors, and digital products (online courses).
Equipment to Make Tutorial Videos
I suggest the following items to grow your tutorial video business. You can view my Youtube equipment list on this page.
- Video Capture software like Camtasia or Ecamm Live.
- A good microphone
- A good digital camera
- A greenscreen if you don’t have a great, clean background
- Youtube optimization software such as Tubebuddy or VidIQ
Digital Products
Many of us that create tutorial videos sell a digital product.
Whether that be an online course, an online membership site, or even just some downloadable content.
I’ve created many courses and digital products over the years on digital marketing. I sell them at Ballen Academy.
The key is to build a list by offering a digital value item such as a checklist, guide, or ebook. When you build your contact list, you can create a sales funnel that drives traffic to your digital products.
You can also sell digital products you create on a graphic design website like Canva. You can create printables like journals, planners, recipe books, calendars, and so much more.
Here’s a guide to help you learn the best platforms for creating online courses
Closing
As you can see, making money through tutorial videos can be done through many methods. Choose 1, 2, or all of them to increase your income. We are in an age where digital learning is prevalent.
Turn your digital tutorials into courses with a platform like Teachable or Thinkific. Qualify for the Youtube Partner Program, and make money with ads.
Sell paid promotions to Sponsors. Sell digital products that you create with Canva. Sell coaching or another kind of service.
Promote products made by other brands through an affiliate partnership and earn commissions.
There’s no limit to the money you can make creating tutorial videos.
