How to Make Money Editing Videos in 2023 (Ultimate Guide)

by Timothy Ronaldson

Updated

So much of today’s world is visual. With advanced technologies, making and posting videos online is easier than normal.

One necessary component to that is editing, which has a lot of people asking how to make money editing videos. If you’re looking to figure out how to make money editing YouTube videos, you’re in luck.

There are many resources and opportunities for you to make money video editing online. Here is some more information you’ll need to help you on your journey.

Can you make money editing videos?

The quick answer is that yes, you can definitely make money editing videos. Video editors have long been in high demand.

can-you-make-money-editing-videos

In the past, these jobs were primarily at television studios, movie companies and advertising firms.

Today, you can figure out how to make money editing videos in many other ways — on your own time from the comfort of your own home, too.

Millions of people make mini videos and make money on TikTok from their living rooms everyday.

There are so many opportunities today to earn money video editing online because of the significant increase in the number of videos that are being filmed and posted by all types of people.

It’s no longer that only professionals film and post videos. There are plenty of people who are working to make a career out of filming videos of their life, tutorials or any other type of interest video. This is one example of how influencers to make money.

That’s why you can easily learn how to make money editing YouTube videos today.

Trend on the Rise

Every minute, 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube. That’s a truly astonishing number, as there are more than 1 billion videos watched on the platform every day. That provides a lot of opportunity for video editors to make money helping people edit the videos they post.

How much do video editors make?

You can make a good amount of money as a video editor in 2022. The average salary of a full-time video editor is $74,600 in the United States, according to Glassdoor. That’s not a bad wage, for sure.

video-editors-earnings

(Glassdoor Summary)

Keep in mind that this wage is for a full-time worker who is employed by a company to edit videos all day long.

The best part about this field, though, is that you can do video editing online either on a full-time or part-time basis.

You could start out by doing video editing on the side to make some extra money here and there, and then transition to it becoming your full-time source of income.

You can build your client base through freelancing websites or by contacting people directly on YouTube and other social media sites where you can network and market your skills.

If you are an artist and a video editor, you could create a YouTube art account and make money with digital art to maximize your earnings.

If you’re looking to make money as a video editor, you could find jobs in a number of different ways, including:

  • Fiverr – This online freelancing marketplace is a great place to market your skills
  • Upwork – Another online freelancing site where you can browse jobs that others post and apply to them
  • Social Media – You could leverage your social media following to market your skills to potential customers
  • YouTube – You could start a YouTube channel where you show off your video editing skills
  • Job boards – Large job boards such as Indeed and Monster could serve as a source of jobs for you

Tactic for Success

There are a lot of places where you could gain potential clients, but there are a lot of video editors out there, too. This means there’s going to be a lot of competition for the same jobs. To make yourself stand out, create a digital portfolio that you can share with potential clients so they can see your abilities.

How to Make It as a Video Editor

There are many ways that you can make it as a video editor today. You could go the traditional route and get formal schooling.

After high school, you could attend a college or university that has a visual arts department. Once you have a bachelor’s degree in video editing, you’ll be able to put that on your resume.

Your college or university might also be able to hook you up with internships where you can get great on-the-job training that you can take with you.

Of course, college isn’t for everyone.

getting-a-video-editing-degree-pros-and-cons

You may also decide to get into video editing later in life and don’t want to commit the time and/or money to going back to school. Luckily, there are options you’ll have.

You can read books on video editing, take formal online courses, watch YouTube “How To” videos or some combination of that. If you’re looking for problem solving jobs, video editing will be sure to keep you on your toes.

There is no requirement to have a degree in video editing, especially if you’re going to do it on your own without working for a large production company.

Trend on the Rise

A majority of people prefer to watch a video to learn something new. In fact, 83% of people prefer to watch a video over learning via text or audio.

This means a lot of people are creating training videos, giving you plenty of resources to learn how to video edit by, ironically, watching a video.

When you’re making your decision about how to train to become a video editor, consider the following.

Tactic for Success

Video editing is a very visual job, obviously. One of the best ways to learn is to see exactly how other people are doing it, as they’re doing it. So, if you want to learn how to become a video editor, search YouTube for tutorial videos.

Remote Video Editing Jobs

laptop-on-desk

One of the best parts about being a video editor today is that you can easily do it at home, and for the most part, it is even a job that doesn’t require standing.

There is really no need to go into an office of any kind, as long as the work you’re doing doesn’t require you to collaborate heavily with other people.

Even if you do need to collaborate with others, there are plenty of options that would allow you to do that effectively remotely.

If you want to become a successful remote video editor, you’re going to need to engender confidence in the clients you’ll be doing work for.

A great way to do that is to ensure that you have all the proper video editing equipment, and other technological tools that are both necessary for the job and that will allow you to communicate effectively with clients.

Equipment and tools used by video editors:

  • Solid Computer – Most video editors choose Mac computers, such as this iMac with up to 16 GB of RAM
  • Editing Software – There are many different video editing software suites out there. Some of the most popular are Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere
  • Video Conferencing – Utilize video conferencing tools such as Zoom or Google Meet to chat with clients and share your screen
  • Project Management – You could also consider using project management software such as Trello or Asana

How to Make Money Editing YouTube Videos

As mentioned before, YouTube is one of the biggest sources of online videos. There are literally billions of videos that live on YouTube’s platform.

Not all of these videos will be potential clients for you, of course, but it does show the immense earning potential of this job.

The question, of course, is how do you make money by editing videos for YouTube?

One great way would be to find vloggers or people who consistently upload content on YouTube.

video-editing

If you believe the editing of their videos could use an improvement, reach out directly to them to offer your services. Offering your services on freelancing platforms like Upwork and Fiverr are great options too.

There are roughly 12 million YouTube channels, and while not all of them currently have a big enough following to make a living doing it, many of them probably would like to aspire to that.

What this means is that there’s a rather large potential audience for your services. If you want to market to them, it’s a great idea to create your own YouTube channel and upload some videos you’ve uploaded there.

This can serve as your digital portfolio that you can link to any time you’re applying for a new job.

You could also use your channel as a way to market your services to people who might stumble on your channel.

Wrapping Up

With so many videos being taken and uploaded to online sites such as YouTube every day, video editing has quickly become a job that’s in very high demand.

If you’re looking to make it as an online video editor in 2023, follow some of the steps we’ve outlined above.

+ posts

Tim is a classically-trained journalist who loves to share knowledge and information with others. In the past, he has worked in TV, online and print media, and currently works with companies to help design, create and strategize their messaging.

About the Author

Photo of author
Tim is a classically-trained journalist who loves to share knowledge and information with others. In the past, he has worked in TV, online and print media, and currently works with companies to help design, create and strategize their messaging.