Everything you need to know about content monetization
Making money doing what you love with content monetization is a dream of many people. With social media and the internet allowing people to share their interests and create content without professional equipment, directly from their couch, it’s also never been easier.
If you have been looking for a way to start making money with your content, you’ve come to the right place. In this blog post, we’ll cover all the different ways you can monetize your content and the best platforms to do so.
Table of contents:
- What is content monetization?
- What type of content can you monetize?
- 10 ways to monetize your content
- Content monetization platforms
What is content monetization?
Content monetization is a process of making money by selling content that you create. The content could be anything from blog posts to Instagram Stories. It is one of the most effective ways to make money online, and the best part is that anyone can do it.
You can create content from anywhere in the world, and reach people around the globe with ease. It’s also a lucrative way to make money because of how much content creators make. Some of the most successful content creators make seven to six figures per year like Emma Chamberlain and Charlie D’Amelio.
While making six to seven figures per year is not for everyone, many content creators can easily make up to six figures per year by monetizing their content on various platforms.
What type of content can you monetize?
There are many different forms of content you can monetize:
Short-form video
Short-form videos are the content you see on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. It’s usually a fast-paced up to 3-minute video and takes very little gear and preparation to film.
Of course, some content creators like to go all out when creating content, so some do invest a lot of time and money when producing short-form content.
Long-form video
Long-form video is content you see mostly on YouTube. Videos range from anywhere between 5 and up to 90 minutes (sometimes even more) and they are monetized through the YouTube Partner Program.
Social media posts
You can also monetize content you see on social media platforms like pictures, infographics, carousels, Instagram Stories, and even Facebook posts.
Written content
Another type of content that’s great for monetization is written content. This could be anything from blog posts to newsletters, it could be long-form or short-form, and it requires close to zero investment to create.
Audio
Lastly, in recent years audio content has been growing in popularity. Audio includes podcast episodes, and they can be hosted on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
10 ways to monetize your content
Now that we covered the basics of what type of content you can monetize, let’s dive into the “how” so you could find the best content monetization strategy for you:
1. Online course
One of the most profitable ways to make money with your content is to create and sell online courses. Online courses are premium products that work for many different niches – you can teach people how to paint with watercolors, how to climb, how to bake, and how to start a business. No matter your niche, you’ll find people interested in what you’re selling.
Online courses are also high-ticket products, which means that you can charge a premium price for them. This means that you need fewer sales to hit your profit goals.
2. Digital products
Another way to monetize your content is by selling digital products. There are many different digital products you can successfully sell online:
- Workbooks
- Ebooks
- Habit trackers
- Budget spreadsheets
- Fonts and other design elements
- Vectors
- Recipes
- Website design templates
The cost of creating digital products is usually super low, which means that the majority of the profits you get to keep. Also, they can be a great source of passive income once you set up an effective sales and marketing funnel.
3. Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is an extremely profitable way to monetize your content. And you can do it on most platforms, and with all different content types. Also, most niches can find products to promote with affiliate marketing.
With every piece of content you create for a platform of your choosing, whether a TikTok video or a blog post, where you recommend a product, you should be including an affiliate link to that product. This will allow you to earn a commission whenever someone clicks on your link and buys the product.
Successful content creators like Ryan Robinson and Michelle Schroeder-Gardner make tens of thousands of dollars per month with affiliate links. Here are a few affiliate programs you might want to consider joining:
4. Brand sponsorships
One of the most profitable ways to monetize your content is with brand sponsorships. Influencer marketing is one of the most effective and popular marketing strategies that many brands implement in their businesses. And as a content creator, you get to choose which brands to work with and how much to charge for your content.
Brands in all niches and industries are always on the lookout for brand ambassadors and influencers to work with, so no matter in what niche you create content, you can make money with sponsorships.
5. PPC ads
PPC (pay-per-click) ads are another way you can monetize your content. The way it works is simple – you join an ad network and run ads either on your YouTube channel or a website. When someone clicks on the ad you display, you make money.
If you want to start monetizing your content this way, here are the best networks to join:
6. Membership website
A membership website can also be a fantastic way to monetize your content by putting it behind a paywall. BossBabe is a great example of this content monetization strategy. They have a huge library of written, audio, and video content available for all members who pay a monthly fee.
7. Paid newsletters
Paid newsletters might be less popular, but they can also be a great way to monetize your content. Most paid newsletters give a certain number of newsletters per month for free and then the rest is under paywall. While certain industries and niches will do better than others, it’s possible to find people willing to pay for a newsletter in many niches.
Paid newsletters can be written content, but it doesn’t have to be limited to that. You can easily include podcast episodes, and even video content where appropriate, depending on what your audience likes and wants to see.
8. Subscriptions
A similar way to monetize your content to a membership website is through subscriptions. The way it is different from a membership website is that most often, content creators offer subscriptions to their YouTube channel or a Patreon to receive extra content or behind-the-scenes content.
9. Freelance
Many content creators monetize their content by doing freelance work. It can be anything from writing blog posts, editing videos, building websites, creating illustrations, and producing podcasts. Choose a skill you have or want to learn, and create a portfolio from the content you create.
Make-up artist and content creator Claire Marshall is a great example. She started out as a YouTuber and Instagram influencer sharing beauty and fashion tips, and currently, she is working with brands like Tatcha on creating visual content for their brand as a creative freelancer.
The larger audience you have, the more and better opportunities you will have. But even if you are just starting out, you can still find brands (or other content creators) to work with.
10. UGC
Lastly, one of the easiest ways to monetize your content even if you are just starting out and don’t have a huge following is by creating user-generated content (UGC) for brands. UGC has been around for a long time, but UGC creators are a new concept. One thing that differentiates UGC from brand sponsorships is that UGC is all about the brand and the product, and not the creator.
Brands are looking for content creators to create UGC content to promote their brands. Most often, this content is used as an advertisement on social media, because it can be very effective.
Most often, UGC is video, but sometimes it can also be a static social media post, so you should have a good knowledge of how to create effective and good quality social media posts.
Content monetization platforms
When you choose to monetize your content, it’s important to pick the right platform (or platforms) to do that. Which one is the best for you will depend on what type of content you like to create, and which monetization way you prefer. Let’s quickly go over which content monetization platforms:
YouTube
The best type of content:
- Long-form videos
- Short-form videos
- Audio
Ways to monetize the content:
- YouTube Partner Program
- Sponsored content
- Products or services
- Affiliate marketing
YouTube is an extremely popular platform amongst content creators who want to monetize their content and build a brand. Many creators earn money from ad revenue, branded content, affiliate marketing and even promoting their own products or services.
TikTok
The best type of content:
- Short-form videos
Ways to monetize the content:
- TikTok Creator Fund
- TikTok Lives
- Sponsored content
- Affiliate marketing
TikTok is a very popular social media platform that allows content creators to share content, grow their audience, and monetize their content directly through the platform. They have a few different monetization options in-app, that allow creators to earn money, collect gifts, and even find brand collaborations.
Medium
The best type of content:
- Written content
Ways to monetize the content:
- Subscriptions
- Affiliate marketing
- Digital products
- Online courses
Medium is an online platform that allows people to share their written word and make money with it. It’s a subscription-based platform, and people have to be members to read content that’s published on Medium. Writers who write on Medium get paid depending on how popular their posts are.
Substack
The best type of content:
- Written content
Ways to monetize the content:
- Subscriptions
- Affiliate marketing
- Digital products
- Online courses
- Ads
Substack is a newsletter platform that has gained popularity in recent years as a popular side hustle for journalists looking to monetize their content outside mainstream magazines. Since then, many creators have turned their paid newsletters into full-time gigs, all thanks to Substack’s convenient and easy-to-use platform.
Teachable
The best type of content:
- Long-form video
- Audio
- Written content
Ways to monetize the content:
- Digital products
- Online courses
Teachable is an online course platform that also offers additional features like selling digital products. It’s an ideal platform for content creators who are looking to monetize premium content and want to build multiple streams of income.
WordPress
The best type of content:
- Written content
- Long-form video
- Audio
Ways to monetize the content:
- Ads
- Brand sponsorships
- Affiliate marketing
- Membership website
- Digital products
- Freelance
- Sell art
WordPress is one of the most versatile platforms to use if you want to monetize your content. You can write blog posts and include affiliate links, insert ads, and make money through Google AdSense. Also, you can create your own ecommerce store to sell online courses and so much more.
One caveat is that this platform requires a bit more work and knowledge to set up, as you have to do every single thing yourself from scratch. But if you do have web development knowledge, it might be just the right fit.
Patreon
The best type of content:
- Long-form video
- Audio
- Written content
Ways to monetize the content:
- Subscriptions
- Affiliate marketing
- Sell art
Patreon is a platform that allows creators to put their content behind a paywall and monetize it with monthly subscriptions. It’s very easy to set up and maintain, with no coding or similar knowledge needed, which makes Patreon a lucrative platform.
Also, you get to create as many tears with different perks and prices, so you can customize your monetization model. It is a popular platform amongst many content creators because of that and the ease of use.