How I Make Money On YouTube In 2025

Five income streams. Ranked worst to first. That is exactly what Alston Godbolt lays out in this video, recorded while walking along Southport Beach near Lake Michigan. No polished studio, just a real breakdown of how one person actually earns from YouTube across six or seven channels, not all of them active, but every single one still generating revenue in 2025.

If you have ever wondered whether the YouTube Partner Program is worth chasing first, whether affiliate marketing is already too crowded, or whether memberships demand more than they pay back, this post walks through all of it. The ranking goes from the income stream Alston trusts least to the one he built his business around. Every stream comes with the honest drawbacks, not just the pitch.

What You’ll Walk Out With

Why the YouTube Partner Program ranks last, and what that means for your channel strategy
How affiliate marketing actually works, which networks to use, and what the full approval process looks like
The three traits a digital product must have before it will actually sell
What makes memberships different from every other stream on this list, and the one challenge that kills most of them early
How white-label SaaS works and why GoHighLevel is the platform behind Alston’s number-one income stream
The exact sequence for stacking income streams without burning out or losing focus
Three niche ideas pulled directly from the news and everyday life: disaster preparedness, home security, and roofing
Not sure which income stream fits your situation? The free finder at finder.platformproof.com takes two minutes and tells you exactly where to start

The Setup: Six or Seven Channels, All Monetized Differently

Before the ranking starts, there is one piece of context that matters. Alston does not run one channel with one income stream. He runs six or seven YouTube channels at the time of this recording. Not all of them are active, but all of them still get views, and each one is monetized differently based on what the channel covers and who the audience is.

His main channel has multiple revenue streams stacked together. Some of his other channels run on affiliate marketing alone. Some rely entirely on the YouTube Partner Program. The structure of the income follows the niche and the audience, not some universal template. That context matters because it means there is no single right answer. The right income stream depends on what you are building and who you are building it for.

Rank 5: The YouTube Partner Program

This is the income stream most people target first, and Alston ranks it last. Not because it does not work, but because it has more variables outside your control than any other stream on the list.

The YouTube Partner Program pays you for ads that run before, during, and after your videos. It also covers Super Chats, which are essentially tips viewers send during live streams. Once you qualify, YouTube handles every advertiser relationship. You make the content. The money shows up based on how many people watch and what those viewers are worth to advertisers.

The first variable is seasonality. December is a high-revenue month because advertisers pour money into the platform before the holidays. January and February are typically lower because budgets reset. Alston notes this pattern has smoothed out slightly now that YouTube allows advertisers to target based on website behavior rather than just demographics, but the swings still happen.

The second variable is geography. A viewer in the United States generates more ad revenue than a viewer in Nigeria or Pakistan. That is not a comment about value as a person. It reflects what advertisers are willing to pay to reach someone likely to spend money on a product. Alston puts roughly 10% of his viewership in Nigeria and 2 to 3% in Pakistan. He is grateful for every viewer. But if your content pulls a heavy international audience, your ad rates will be lower than a channel with the same view count but a majority US audience.

The third variable is account standing. One copyright strike or a community guidelines violation can suspend monetization. A serious enough violation can cost you the channel entirely. You are building on a platform someone else controls, under rules someone else can change, and the income reflects that fragility.

Alston is clear: the Partner Program does bring in real money. He would not send it back if YouTube asked for it. But as a primary or reliable income source, there are too many things that can move it in the wrong direction without any input from you.

Rank 4: Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is where Alston tells every beginner to start. He estimates it accounts for roughly 10% of his main channel revenue, though that number shifts when all his other channels factor in.

The model is simple. You recommend products and services that already exist, already have a reputation, and already solve a real problem for your audience. When someone clicks your link and buys, you earn a commission. No inventory. No shipping. No customer service calls. You point people toward the right solution and collect a percentage when they take action.

The affiliate programs Alston has run include web hosting companies, TubeBuddy, VidIQ, security camera brands, and paint supply companies. The range of niches covered shows how broadly affiliate marketing applies. To get started, you either join a company’s program directly, like Amazon Associates, or you sign up with an affiliate network. The networks Alston names are ClickBank, ShareASale, Commission Junction (also called CJ), and SkimLinks.

The application process is not complicated. Most programs have a form that takes 15 to 20 minutes to fill out. You answer questions about what you create, who your audience is, and how you plan to promote the product. Some programs approve you the same day. Others take a few days, a few weeks, or even a month to respond. Once you are approved, you get a unique affiliate link. Every purchase traced back to that link earns you a commission.

The main drawback is margin. You only collect a portion of each sale. The company keeps the rest. You also do not have final authority. Programs can change commission structures without notice, adjust their terms, or stop accepting new affiliates entirely. Some will reject your application based on audience size or niche fit. You have more control here than with the Partner Program, where you have no say at all, but less control than owning something yourself.

For a beginner, the key advantages outweigh the drawbacks. You do not need to create anything. You can start putting affiliate links in video descriptions from your very first upload. And the products you recommend give you early data on what your audience actually wants to buy, which is the exact research you need before building a product of your own.

Rank 3: Digital Products

Digital products are where you stop splitting revenue with anyone. What you charge is what you keep.

Alston describes these as planners, cheat sheets, templates, and quick guides built to solve a specific problem. On one of his YouTube channels about starting a YouTube channel, he created a step-by-step startup guide bundled with thumbnail templates. It is not a course. It is not a complicated software product. It is a focused document that helps someone do one specific thing more quickly than they could figure it out on their own.

The rule Alston gives for any first digital product: the buyer has to achieve a result quickly. If getting the benefit requires months of effort after purchase, the product will not sell well. People buy because the outcome feels close. Tangible. Direct. Measurable. Those are the three filters. If your product cannot clear all three, rework the scope before you publish it.

Creation time is real. A focused cheat sheet or template pack might take three days to build. A full course can take three months or longer. Alston mentions he spent more than a month on a step-by-step course about building AI agents, mostly because other work kept interrupting the process. The creation investment is higher than affiliate marketing, but the return is also higher because every sale goes entirely to you.

One important note: digital products need maintenance. As your niche evolves, the product has to stay current. A guide with outdated tool recommendations or pricing will hurt your credibility faster than it hurts your sales numbers. Build in time to update the product at least once a year, especially if you are covering anything in a fast-moving space like software, marketing, or online platforms.

Rank 2: Memberships

Memberships solve the problem that haunts every other stream on this list: starting from zero at the beginning of every month. With ad revenue, affiliate commissions, and digital product sales, the first of the month means your income resets. A membership changes that. Members who stay subscribed carry their payment into the next billing cycle. You are not rebuilding your revenue total from scratch every thirty days.

The structure is straightforward. Identify the large goal your audience is working toward. For a YouTube growth membership, that might be hitting 4,000 watch hours and 1,000 subscribers to qualify for monetization. Break that journey into stages. Deliver content, workshops, and live Q&A sessions that move members closer to the goal over time. The ongoing nature of the goal keeps the subscription alive because the work is not done until they get there.

You do not have to run a membership through YouTube’s own membership feature. Alston runs his off-platform. The tools he names are Mighty Networks, Circle, and GBolt Systems. Facebook Groups also work if you attach a separate payment system. The right platform depends on your technical comfort level and where your audience already spends time online.

On pricing, you can run a low-ticket membership, a high-ticket membership, or eventually both. Alston’s recommendation for anyone starting out: pick one tier and stick with it. Two tiers creates questions you are not ready to answer, like how to differentiate the value clearly enough to justify the price gap and how to move members from the lower tier to the higher one without alienating them. One clear offering, one price point, until you have enough members to think about expansion.

The challenge Alston names directly: getting the first five to ten members, and keeping them long enough for the community to feel real. New members scan the room when they arrive. If no one else is there, they leave. Getting people talking to each other, not just watching your content, is the actual work of running a membership. Facilitating conversations, asking questions that pull replies, making members feel seen by each other and not just by you. If community building drains you, membership income will cost more in energy than it returns in revenue for at least the first several months.

Rank 1: SaaS (Software as a Service)

This is Alston’s top-ranked income stream. A software subscription that sits under your brand, delivers real tools to paying customers, and keeps generating revenue as long as the product keeps working for them.

The specific product Alston built is a white-labeled version of GoHighLevel. GoHighLevel is a full marketing platform that handles email marketing, digital product delivery, membership hosting, sales funnels, and a range of other business tools in one place. Direct pricing from GoHighLevel runs from $97 to $297 to $497 per month depending on the plan chosen.

The white-label model works like this: Alston rents a block of server space from GoHighLevel at a wholesale rate. He puts his own brand on the interface. Then he resells access to that platform starting at $17 per month. He did not write a single line of code. He did not hire developers or manage server infrastructure. He took an existing platform, applied his label, and started selling subscriptions. Customers get a full marketing suite at a price well below what GoHighLevel charges directly. Alston collects recurring monthly payments as long as those customers are getting value.

This model is not limited to marketing tools. Any niche with recurring software needs is a potential candidate. If you want to build something from scratch, that path exists, though development costs run significantly higher. If you want to move faster, a site like CodeCanyon sells done-for-you software solutions you can license, rebrand, and resell without writing any code or managing infrastructure yourself.

The reason SaaS ranks first is stickiness. A customer who runs their business on your software platform does not cancel on a whim. They are not a one-time buyer. Every month they stay is another month of recurring revenue, compounding on top of previous months. Compare that to affiliate marketing, where someone buys once and the transaction is complete. A software subscriber who depends on the tool daily is a completely different kind of customer relationship, and a much more durable source of income.

Not sure which of these five income streams fits where you are right now?

The free finder at finder.platformproof.com asks a short set of questions about your niche, audience size, and available time, then tells you exactly which stream to start with and which ones to add later.

How to Stack These Income Streams Without Getting Overwhelmed

Alston is specific about one thing: do not try to launch all five at once. You will spread your effort too thin, make mistakes you could have avoided, and most likely abandon everything when the early results are slow. Build in layers.

Here is the sequence he recommends:

Start with affiliate marketing. Apply to programs in your niche. Put your links in descriptions. Mention products naturally in videos. Get your first commissions without creating any product of your own.
Around the 3-month mark, consider a digital product. By then you will know what questions your audience asks repeatedly, which is exactly the information you need to build something they will actually buy.
Around 6 months, look at memberships. You need enough of an audience to fill the room. Starting a membership before the audience is there means you will have a community of one or two people, which almost always falls apart quickly.
At 9 to 12 months, explore SaaS options. By this point you understand your audience’s recurring software pain points well enough to pick a white-label solution or explore building something purpose-built.
Throughout all of this, the YouTube Partner Program pays in the background whenever you qualify. Apply when you hit the threshold, collect the revenue, but do not anchor your financial targets to it.

One rule that matters across all five: every stream must connect to the same niche. Do not run affiliate marketing for home improvement on one side and a SaaS for online marketers on the other. Your audience will not understand the connection, and they will not buy across unrelated offers. Keep everything pointed at the same audience and the same core problem.

Honest Drawbacks of Each Income Stream

YouTube Partner Program: Too many external variables. Seasonality, viewer geography, advertiser budgets, and YouTube’s own enforcement policies all affect your payout without any input from you. You get paid, but you do not get to decide how much.

Affiliate marketing: You are a middleman. Commission rates can be cut without warning. Programs can close to new applications or restructure entirely. You will always collect a fraction of the total sale value, not the full price the buyer paid.

Digital products: Creation takes time. A focused cheat sheet might take three days. A full course can take three months or more. And once published, the product needs to stay updated as your niche changes. A stale product damages your reputation faster than it disappears from your sales reports.

Memberships: Community management is ongoing and requires energy that does not scale automatically. You have to create content specifically for members, show up for live Q&As, monitor conversations, and actively keep people talking to each other. If that kind of facilitation drains you, a membership will cost more in energy than it returns in revenue, at least through the first six months.

SaaS: Higher startup cost than any other option. White-labeling requires ongoing wholesale payments to the platform even before your first subscriber pays you. Building from scratch requires developer costs that run well into four or five figures. This is not the right first move. It is the move you make after you have proven your audience, your niche, and your ability to deliver consistent ongoing value.

Three Niche Ideas Worth Considering

Alston opens the video with three niche suggestions. He is upfront that none of them are secret. They came from paying attention to what shows up in the news and in everyday life around him.

Disaster preparedness and weather emergencies: People move constantly, and when they do, they often move into unfamiliar weather territory. Someone who grew up in California preparing for earthquakes has no mental model for tornado season in the Midwest. Someone relocating from Wisconsin to coastal Florida has never thought about hurricane prep. That gap creates a permanent stream of new people who need the same foundational information about emergency kits, generator selection, winter driving, flood prep, and storm shelters. New homeowners and new renters enter this niche every day. It is evergreen because people never stop relocating and weather never stops happening.

Home security cameras: This is Alston’s first YouTube niche and one he still runs. The product landscape is wide. Ring video doorbells. PoE cameras that run over Ethernet cable. BNC cameras that use coaxial cable. Wireless options with no wiring required. Each type has a different installation process, different use case, and different price point. People buying their first security camera are overwhelmed by the options and want someone to explain the difference clearly and tell them which one to pick. Affiliate marketing fits this niche directly because every camera recommendation has a product someone can buy.

Roofing and shingles: This one came to Alston mid-walk while passing houses and noticing the variety of shingle colors and materials on rooftops. Different shingle types perform differently by climate. Different colors suit different architectural styles and regional preferences. Homeowners facing a roof replacement need this information and typically have no trusted source for it beyond a contractor trying to sell them something. Roofers and contractors search for product comparisons too. Home improvement affiliate programs with larger commission values make this niche financially interesting, not just informationally useful.

Find Your X

Five income streams, all real, all with trade-offs that matter depending on where you are in building your channel. The question is not which stream is best in the abstract. The question is which one fits your niche, your audience size, and the time you actually have available right now.

The free finder at finder.platformproof.com takes about two minutes and gives you a clear answer based on your specific situation, not a generic recommendation built for someone else’s channel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you make money on YouTube without the Partner Program?

Yes. Affiliate marketing, digital products, memberships, and SaaS subscriptions all generate income completely independently of YouTube’s ad system. Alston has channels that run entirely on affiliate links and never rely on ad revenue at all. The Partner Program is one option among several, not a prerequisite.

How much does affiliate marketing typically pay compared to ad revenue?

It depends heavily on your niche and the products you promote. Alston estimates affiliate marketing brings in roughly 10% of his main channel revenue. In high-commission niches like software, web hosting, or financial tools, that percentage can flip entirely, with affiliate commissions exceeding ad revenue even at smaller audience sizes. Commission rates vary by program, but a single affiliate conversion typically pays more than thousands of ad views.

Which affiliate networks should a beginner use?

The networks Alston mentions are Amazon Associates for physical products, ClickBank for digital products, ShareASale, Commission Junction (CJ), and SkimLinks. Start with one network that fits your niche rather than applying to all of them at once. Get your first approved program, learn the dashboard, and expand as your content volume and audience grow.

What platforms work for running a paid membership community?

The platforms Alston names are Mighty Networks, Circle, GBolt Systems, and Facebook Groups with a separate payment tool attached. Circle is strong on community management features. Mighty Networks bundles courses and community in one place. GBolt Systems integrates with other business tools. Facebook is free to set up but puts your community on someone else’s platform with terms that can change. Pick based on your technical comfort and where your audience already spends time.

What is GoHighLevel and why does Alston use it for his SaaS income?

GoHighLevel is a full marketing platform that covers email marketing, sales funnels, membership hosting, digital product delivery, and CRM tools. It offers a white-label reseller option where you rent platform access at a wholesale rate and resell under your own brand. Alston uses it because it required no coding, no server setup, and no product development from scratch. He resells access starting at $17 per month. GoHighLevel’s direct pricing runs from $97 to $497 monthly depending on the tier.

How do you create your first digital product if you have never done it?

Start as small as possible. A one-page cheat sheet or a three-page quick-start guide is a valid digital product. You do not need a course to begin. Identify one specific result your audience wants to reach quickly, write the clearest path to that result, and sell it. Tools like Gumroad or SendOwl handle file delivery without any technical setup. Once the first simple product is selling, you have the proof of concept you need to build something larger.

Why does Alston recommend starting with affiliate marketing instead of digital products?

Affiliate marketing requires creating nothing. You can add affiliate links to your video descriptions from your first upload and start generating commissions with zero product development time. Digital products require research, creation, and testing before anything sells. For a beginner still learning what their audience actually wants, affiliate marketing generates early data on which products convert, which is exactly the research you need before you invest weeks or months into building something of your own.

Is it realistic to build all five income streams at the same time?

No. Alston is clear on this point. Start with one stream, run it until it generates consistently, then add the next. Trying to launch all five simultaneously splits your focus, makes it harder to diagnose what is or is not working, and dramatically increases the chance you abandon everything when the early results are slow. Three to six months per stream is a reasonable pace. Build in layers, not all at once.

Sources

Alston Godbolt, “How I Make Money On YouTube In 2025,” YouTube, https://youtu.be/RsgYjxdwKV0
GoHighLevel platform pricing and white-label reseller program: gohighlevel.com
YouTube Partner Program eligibility and monetization policy: support.google.com/youtube
Affiliate networks referenced: ClickBank, ShareASale, Commission Junction (CJ), SkimLinks, Amazon Associates
Membership platforms referenced: Mighty Networks, Circle, GBolt Systems