Make money from YouTube videos

Imagine posting a funny home video to YouTube, then earning thousands of dollars for it. It's not a hoax: If you can get your video to go viral, you can now earn money from YouTube.

But it's not as easy as it sounds.

Crazy stunts, great singing voices and amazing pets and babies. Those are the YouTube videos that tend to go viral, meaning millions of people have watched them.

Yes, You Can Make Money

YouTube will now let you share the profits from ads on the site if your video goes viral. And that's a big "if."

The key to making a viral video, according to the New York Times : A great title, coupled with a unique or funny video. To view the article, go to www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/business/media/11youtube.html .

Example: one of YouTube's biggest hits ever, "Charlie bit my finger," which got tens of millions of views.

Time Magazine documented one man who made $10,000 off a silly video video of his cat playing piano, called Keyboard Cat. View Time's story at www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1938731,00.html .

So how do you cash in? If -- and only if -- your video starts getting thousands of hits, YouTube will email you to offer revenue sharing.

You will then get a Google AdSense account, to start making money with each click.

This site, Business Insider, gives a very detailed description, and instructions, of how the process works.

Doesn't That Stink?

But from the "Doesn't That Stink" file, some hot YouTube videos won't earn a dime.

That's because they use copyrighted music. You may say "doesn't that stink," but the law is the law.

So even if it's a great video of schoolteachers dancing to a Katy Perry song, that generates 100,000 views, sorry, you can't make money off it.

Justin Bieber can't make money off his earliest YouTube hits, because they were other people's songs.

Read the Terms

Bottom line: to earn any money off a video, it will need at least 10,000 views. And to really earn serious cash, you are going to need half a million views or more.

But if you are getting to that point, and you are ready to sign up for AdSense, read YouTube's terms and fine print about how to protect your video, if you think it has the chance to go viral, and get millions of hits.

You don't want someone else profiting off your video, so you don't waste your money.

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Don't Waste Your Money is a registered trademark of the EW Scripps Co.

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