Many people associate the Internet with the idea of making money quickly. Every now and then, you can read in the news that someone “accidentally” made millions of dollars from a good photo or video shot. For example, the earnings of the mistress of the famous “angry cat,” who became a meme on the web, already amount to tens of millions of dollars. And the most popular YouTube blogger, a gamer from Sweden, makes about $9 million a year just by filming himself while playing video games. More than 33 million subscribers follow his emotions, while the guy gets thousands of dollars landing on his account.
Earnings from photography/ videography are not just huge, but if you cannot imagine your life without a camera, then you can turn a hobby into a source of income and make money after loosing your job. And if you commit to it, then you can count on substantial profits. Fortunately, there are more and more sites for posting photos and videos on the web, and the withdrawal of money from the Internet is not a problem either: most of the resources work with e-wallets and other payment solutions. Let’s take a look at the main options that you have when it comes to making money from photos and videos on the Internet.
1. Use Photo Stocks
Posting pictures on photo stocks and similar platforms is a common type of part-time work for photographers today. The most popular resources are Shutterstock, Depositphotos, iStock, Dreamstime, Stocksy, and Cavan Images. Most sites require a user to pass an exam upon registration. There are 3 to 10 entries: photos, videos, and illustrations. However, this is not a rule in 10% of cases. For example, the Dreamstime platform does not pose such a requirement on its users. On some resources, you need to confirm your identity with documents. Thus, you will be asked to provide a scan of your ID card on Shutterstock so that you could verify your identity quickly and perform financial operations.
There are two ways to sell photos on photo stocks: by piece and by subscription. In the latter case, earnings per photo are fixed – about 30-35 cents per shot. In the former case, a photographer receives a percentage of the photo being sold. It depends on the exclusivity, the quality of the picture, and varies from $1 to $80. Besides that, the percentage depends on the status of the photographer (beginner, bronze, and silver) and is in the range between 44 and 52%. The status of a photographer raises with the increase in the number of downloads of his posted photos. For example, switching to bronze on one of the stocks is possible after 499 downloads. When selling by subscription, depending on the level of the photographer.
2. Upload Content to the Clashot Photo Bank
The creators position the resource as a social network where you can share photos with your friends and earn money at the same time. It differs from other photo stocks by the fact that reportage photos, including shots taken from the phone, are mainly sold here. The service allows you to immediately put up fresh photos for sale by uploading them directly from your phone.
According to photographers, it is easy to make money on this platform – the problem of copyright protection is solved with Clashot. The time limit and affordable price (all photos on the resource have a standard price of $0.99) reduce the likelihood of theft to a minimum. There are several ways to make money with Clashot. The first option is the sale of photos. The author receives 44% (about 43 cents) for the sold photos. Another option is associated with the offers from advertisers. In this case, you can earn up to $50 per photo. Besides that, you can also get money for likes from Clashot experts. One like brings 10 cents, and a good photo can get 5-7 such likes. So you can project profit margins easily.
3. Sell Files on File Sharing Platforms
Making money on file hosting is one of the simplest options. Anything can be posted here: photos, videos, music, films, pictures, books, programs, documents, and presentations. In this case, among the supported formats, you can find EXE, MP3, MPEG, AVI, RAR, ZIP, JPG, DOC, XLS, PPT, PDF, etc. There are a lot of file-sharing platforms to sell digital downloads on the web, for example, Files.FM, Pulley, PayLoadz, Easy Digital Downloads, and many more. The most popular platforms are DepositFiles, E-junkie, and DPD (Digital Product Delivery).
As a rule, these e-commerce platforms for merchants and creators of multimedia content are available without registration. But to earn money, you will need to register an account and link it to your e-wallet or a bank account. One user can upload an unlimited amount of digital assets, but if a particular file is unpopular, it will be deleted. The average storage period of information after the last download is a month. Payment is made for 1,000 downloads, and the price for an asset increase along with the file size. For example, DepositFiles will pay $2 for a thousand downloads of a 1–4 Mb file, but if a file weighs from 250 to 2,000 Mb, a thousand downloads will cost $10.
4. Run Your YouTube Channel
Wondering how to make money from videos? Everything is easy on YouTube. However, there are some pitfalls that you should be aware of. For example, you can get banned for any suspicion of plagiarism or a complaint from those who work with the company through an affiliate program. Besides that, if you want to make money on YouTube, you should create an account in Google and register an application using the www.youtube.com/partners link. According to user reviews, the application is considered for about a week. After that, the video approved by the moderators can start generating income from advertising. But if the company has any suspicions, you will be asked to confirm the copyright and the right to use the video for commercial purposes.
The billion-dollar audience generates multi-million dollar revenues for YouTube creators. But how do YouTubers make money from videos and how much do they earn? YouTube pays video creators around 50% of ad revenue. For example, if 10 people out of 10,000 who watched the video click on an advertising link that costs $0.6; the total income is $6. In this case, $3 is taken by the site, and another $3 is given to a video creator. Thus, for 100,000 views, you can get $330, and in the case of a million views, this amount increases to up to $3,300. So if you have essential video gear and know how to get more views on YouTube, then give it a try.
5. Create a Website to Download Videos
Another way to make money from videos is to create a website for downloading and watching videos online. This is an option for those who want to get substantial profits and not some small amounts of money. Creating a website requires large financial investments at the initial stage, and you should be ready for the serious competition along the entire development path. However, it will pay you off well if you manage to create a unique and quality platform, which people will use to upload/ download effective how-to videos, promo clips, videos for business, and other types of multimedia.
6. Produce Custom-Made Videos
Creating custom videos is also a pretty popular way of how to earn money from videos. There are two possible options to consider. First, you can create and promote a YouTube channel. If your channel is popular, then sooner or later there will be people who will contact you with a request or offer. As an alternative solution, you create custom videos and get paid for them. This approach is feasible without even a promoted YouTube channel. You can use freelance platforms to find customers. Whether it’s a product presentation or a promo video, you can create and get paid for it. Use video collage maker with music and professional editing software to produce high-quality content.
Make It Easy
If you produce unique and quality digital content, it won’t be a problem for you to make money from it. You are free to select multiple options to increase your income at the max. However, you should be ready that this type of work will require some time and effort on your end.