How to Make Money on YouTube Without Recording Videos

Here's how to make money on YouTube without recording videos. I'll show you 5 ways to do it.

Let me know what you think, ask me a question, or suggest something I cover in the future in the comments below!

1. Lumen5 WordPress Plugin

Lumen5 lets you automatically turn your blog posts into videos. The plugin uses a combination of the text and images from your written post along with their huge database full of stock video clips.

Here's a post on how to set up Lumen5.

2. Compilation videos

You use video clips that people submit to you or that you find on the internet and just combine them in a way that makes a unique, original video. If you use other people's clips, be careful. Make sure you credit them, don't use too big of a chunk of it, and use it in a way that helps them.

A good example of this would be video game compilation channels like Red Arcade. Many of these kinds of channels get submissions after building a sizable audience, but in the early days, they might use Twitch highlight clips to make their first videos. Twitch streamers don't mind this in many cases because you help them get more traffic and revenue by including them in these videos.

To edit these videos and combine these clips, I recommend the video editor I'm currently using, Camtasia.

3. The top comment technique

Some people do this and succeed with it. Others may do this the wrong way and get flagged. It depends on your approach.

Basically, the point is to watch a popular video that attracts a similar audience to your business and make a high-quality comment. You might share your favorite quote from the video or mention your favorite scene.

Then, if you comment gets a lot of likes or gets loved by the channel, it will be pushed up to the top. Then, you can include a link to a course, your channel, your affiliate link, etc. that is related to the video subject.

If YouTube starts making it to where you can't have a link in your comments, just let people click on your YouTube channel name and have a banner on your home page that tells them where to go.

Commenting would just be the form of traffic you would get to whatever business you have.

4. Using your video game highlights

This is not the same method as the compilation video one I mentioned earlier.

With this method, you just use a feature (if available) on your gaming device to record clips of funny moments, highlight plays, epic fails, etc. that seem pretty cool to you. I know with an Xbox One, you can record up to about 5 minutes of something that you already did.

This way, you can record something only after it already happens and save it. Otherwise, you would basically have to stream and risk messing up a lot or being boring until that moment or two happens.

Once these clips are recorded, come up with good titles that include related keywords and upload them straight to your YouTube channel. No talking, editing, camera, or face needed.

5. AdFly

With AdFly, you can use a similar method to the commenting one I mentioned earlier in the post (as long as YouTube allows it).

So, you would make great comments other viewers would like and upvote and then you would put a link in the comment to a related video, social post, or whatever else using an AdFly shortened link.

AdFly works very similarly to Bitly. You just copy and paste the link you want into the AdFly URL shortener and it makes the link much smaller. Then, you use that link in your comment so that when people click it, they see an ad right before going to the web page and you get paid a few cents.

The more of these you have, the more passive income you can start bringing in from link clicks. No videos need to be made this way.