Anyone making money from Amazon affiliate links on YouTube?

[poot_traveller]

Has anyone here got a YouTube channel and are using it to make money from Amazon affiliate links?, if so, is the time verses reward worth it?

I wanted to start a YouTube channel about van life so I can do Amazon affiliate marketing but I'm wondering if it's worth it.  I don't want to be spending hours filming video's, editing video's, thinking up new stuff to put on YouTube if I'm only going to get a few dollars for my efforts.

I haven't even started van life yet and I'm still about 4 weeks away from finishing my conversion (I can only work on my conversion one day per week).  But after a 3-4 weeks living full time in a van I was going to start doing Amazon affiliate marketing.

Anyone had experience with this?

 

[maki2]

You need to get quite a lot of viewers (or blog followers) who have decided that you are worthy of their taking the time to use your links for their ongoing purchases on a regular basis. It takes more than a few random clicks to make it work. The best results come from regular followers who have your link bookmarked to use whenever they shop on Amazon. A good example of a person who has made it work is of course Bob Wells. A good example of a blogger who has made it work is RV Sue and Crew although she is no longer on the road, she bought a house and quite life on the road.

 

[highdesertranger]

most of them are pushing the patreon thingy now-a-days. highdesertranger

 

[jimindenver]

I make a few bucks off of a Amazon affiliate account. Most of the fees come from my solar design work but I do see a bump if I post a video of items that I use with links in the description.

You tube is a lot of work. It's more than just posting video's. You have to get approved as a Amazon affiliate. Approved for a adsense account. Then collect 1000 subs and 4000 hours of viewing time. After that, you tube will consider you for monetization. It took me just about a year from the time I first started. I waited 8 months after I had the subs and view time for you tube to monetize the channel.

 

[poot_traveller]

You need to get quite a lot of viewers (or blog followers) who have decided that you are worthy of their taking the time to use your links for their ongoing purchases on a regular basis. It takes more than a few random clicks to make it work. The best results come from regular followers who have your link bookmarked to use whenever they shop on Amazon. A good example of a person who has made it work is of course Bob Wells. A good example of a blogger who has made it work is RV Sue and Crew although she is no longer on the road, she bought a house and quite life on the road.

I'm planning on doing "How-to" video's with Amazon links in the description for items I use in the video. 

On another note; I can't seem to find the RV Sue and Crew channel on YouTube, I guess it's been taken down.

 

[poot_traveller]

most of them are pushing the patreon thingy now-a-days.  highdesertranger

Yeah I see that.  If I have to resort to asking for donations through Patreon & PayPal then there can't be much money in it.  And I know doing YouTube video's takes a bit of effort so atm I'm weighing up time & effort verses reward.

 

[poot_traveller]

I make a few bucks off of a Amazon affiliate account. Most of the fees come from my solar design work but I do see a bump if I post a video of items that I use with links in the description.

You tube is a lot of work. It's more than just posting video's. You have to get approved as a Amazon affiliate. Approved for a adsense account. Then collect 1000 subs and 4000 hours of viewing time. After that, you tube will consider you for monetization. It took me just about a year from the time I first started. I waited 8 months after I had the subs and view time for you tube to monetize the channel.

You had to wait 8 months for YouTube to monetize your channel after you got the 1K subs?

I don't like the sounds of that.  I'd still have to post one video per week for the entire 8 months before my channel gets approved.  Over 8 months that's 32 video's for zero cash.

Hmmm I'll have to ask around some more to other YouTubers, and if they give me the same story you are giving me then I'm not doing it.

 

[Day Dreamer]

Most people that are making money via youtube, blogging, etc. did it for quite a while and had established traffic / following before monetizing. Some for years. Google doesn't really like "made for Adsense / affiliate" sites or channels. They want to see quality content first. Do it first for the passion and the money should follow.

Some people wait longer than the approval time to build trust from their followers first.

 

[poot_traveller]

OK thanks, I'll be sure not to make a "made for affiliate marketing" channel if I choose to go a head.

 

[Dingfelder]

Even well-established youtubers say that the people who make real money are those who post every day. Not necessarily quality content, but constant content. If you feel that posting once a week is a burden, then you are probably not cut out for making money on youtube.

Frankly, I find youtube channels often very frustrating because creators are so focused on pumping out massive amounts of content that the content they do put out there is very "lite," random, or full of filler. As in, here's my dog isn't he great, don't you love my kids, I'ma gonna talk random crap for 10 minutes before I get to the subject and the insert the occasional five minutes of stuff about my cute dogs or kids or random feelings about life and yadda yadda blah blah blah ...

Padding apparently pays. But it makes for a massive number of videos whose actual content is very very low. If you want to pretend to talk about a subject but really just react emotionally to whatever, and feature an astonishing amount of "content" about your kids or cats, you can get a following of fans and strangelings who have nowhere else emotionally to go, if you get lucky. Maybe you're young and/or cute and/or especially crazy or charming and just can't shut up, and that works for you.

But someone offering deep, well-thought-out content on a moderate rather than daily basis, who is perhaps not a hunk or a babe or allied with one, is going to have a long road toward being profitable. Youtube is such an ordinary thing now that strong content isn't even necessarily a selling point anymore. It's just another thing that ... is. You may need something more than quality to sell yourself. In other words, being good is not enough.

And if you are brand new to the lifestyle -- on another angle -- I doubt you will have much new to offer anyone. You're just a rando if you're simply videoing yourself randomly encountering random stuff and having random thoughts about it. Folks like Bob Wells have been doing this for so many years that they have an irreplaceable depth of knowledge and experience that newbies can't touch.

 

[poot_traveller]

Even well-established youtubers say that the people who make real money are those who post every day.  Not necessarily quality content, but constant content.  If you feel that posting once a week is a burden, then you are probably not cut out for making money on youtube.

No one doing van life video's can post every day, I'm guessing those YouTubers are vloggers talking crap everyday or gamers doing gaming video's everyday.  Those sort of things are sustainable on a daily basis, but not van life video's.

 

[poot_traveller]

I'ma gonna talk random crap for 10 minutes before I get to the subject and the insert the occasional five minutes of stuff about my cute dogs or kids or random feelings about life and yadda yadda blah blah blah ...

YouTube rewards long video's with more exposure, which results in more viewers.  The longer the video the better.  So YouTubers that understand this turn their 5 minute video into a 15 minute video.

 

[poot_traveller]

Folks like Bob Wells have been doing this for so many years that they have an irreplaceable depth of knowledge and experience that newbies can't touch.

I can bring new content to van life video's, that's not a problem.

 

[Cammalu]

If a video doesn’t get to the point in a few seconds I’m outta there. It’s like wrestling people to watch your family videos. It’s just not that interesting. If you are very interesting, get to the point, and actually have something to say that’s different. If not I hope you have a particularly funny or weird dog or cat. I watch funny animal videos

 

[lenny flank]

I am quite willing to bet that virtually nobody actually makes a livable income from YouTube.

 

[highdesertranger]

please stay away from the drama and BS. there is way to much of that on You Tube. if I want any of that I would watch the nightly news or those Hollywood shows.

also if you are going to do "how to" videos you better know what you are doing and be able to deliver it in a way that is easy for people to understand and be entertaining all the while. if you try to be funny you better be funny. between 30-60% of the how to videos on you tube are BS and the people making them don't know jack.

you also need to give any specs in both inches/feet and metric as most of your traffic is going to come from the USA, this goes for all the measurements, it's no fun if you need a conversion chart or a calculator to watch a video. this also goes for terms, a boot is a totally different thing in different parts of the world.

if you recommend stuff that is not readily available in the viewers country they will loose interest fast.

if you want to make real money at it you must treat it like a real job and put in the hours every week just like a real job.

highdesertranger

 

[skyl4rk]

The best part about a youtube channel is not money, but connections with other people doing something similar to what you are doing.

If you want to make money, sell stickers, t-shirts, gear or some specialty product that requires the buyer learn what to buy and how to use it, which they learn from your videos. Make a list of recommended stuff on Amazon with your affiliate links. Start a Patreon page and ask for support for your channel in every video. Build a website with good articles and sell ads on it through Clickbait or similar, and use adsense. If your videos become popular, you might get donations of products to review.

Its a lot of work for not a lot of money, so you might as well have fun with your videos and make them so years later you can come back and watch your great adventures on youtube.

 

[Day Dreamer]

YouTube rewards long video's with more exposure, which results in more viewers.  The longer the video the better.  So YouTubers that understand this turn their 5 minute video into a 15 minute video.

They can also make more money as longer videos allow for more ads.

 

[Day Dreamer]

I am quite willing to bet that virtually nobody actually makes a livable income from YouTube.

Many do but it's not easy and takes a lot of production effort. Some "pro gamers" make tens of thousands per month jut posting and talking about their game play and other random stuff. 

Much of it has to do with demographics. Younger people tend to consume much more youtube for longer than anybody else. Teenagers typically aren't vandwellers, so that audience is out. My teenage son watches youtube pretty much like a TV these days. He doesn't even watch TV.

 

[Day Dreamer]

The bottom line is traffic. A LOT OF TRAFFIC!! It takes time to build organically. Many people now treat it as a business and invest thousands in their own Google and facebook ads, etc. to drive traffic their sites to build quicker. Those people / companies will have the upper hand on gaining momentum. You can do it free over a long period of time or do it faster if you are willing to pay.